


Rewritten

by braincells



Category: Remake/Remodel (Fanart), The 100 (TV), clexa fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Fanart, Older Characters, Slow Burn, Slow Burn Clarke Griffin/Lexa, clexa fandom - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-31
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2018-10-13 06:53:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 30
Words: 23,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10508574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/braincells/pseuds/braincells
Summary: "You're older now, love didn't kill you but made you stronger, Heda."Many generations after the Skai people fell back to earth, Chancellor Griffin and Heda Lexa meet under strange circumstances. Now in their forties, both are seasoned leaders of their people with family ties and responsibilities.The uneasy truce between Grounders and Skai kru is about to crumble until strange incidents across the lands force the warring leaders to learn the truth beyond just survival.





	1. Preface

**Author's Note:**

> This AU is a little further away from the show and book.  
> The illustrations in the notes are my own.  
> You can see my Clexa related pics here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/985704  
> and the stories I illustrated for another writer: https://archiveofourown.org/series/607825 
> 
> You can also see my art page on FB: https://www.facebook.com/braincellsart/  
> and Tumblr: https://braincellsart.tumblr.com/

### Tondisi Hunting Grounds

The cold morning air smelled musty, and moisture clung to the plants as Lexa moved smoothly through the forest. Heda looked up. A blast trap was perched on a rock not far from where she headed. The high pitched sound of the trap got to a sudden end when she threw a rock to destroy the trigger. A two-headed deer looked up in the distance.

The machine had set a trap for her. She knew it had stalked her some time through the woods but had not made a move to attack her yet.  
Lexa saw the faint glimmer of the hunter machine; it's invisibility cloak briefly glistening in the morning light as it swiftly headed towards her from the left. Lexa drew her blast sling and quickly aimed for the textured air ripple to her left. Before the hunter machine could pounce on her, the sling explosives had ripped off the cloaking device from Lexa's attacker.

The animal machine uttered a screeching sound before it stopped in its tracks and crashed on its side. Exposed, it didn't stand a chance against the Trikru warrior. Lexa drew her swords and finished it off with a powerful strike into the machine heart. Sparks flew high into the air, and for a moment the forest noise was overwhelmed with the humming of the machine going offline.

Lexa stripped the useful parts from its sleek metal shell and stowed them in a leather pouch. The sun was rising fast, and she was about to get back to Tondisi when her eye caught the spires of Castle Jaha in the distance. The fortress of Skai people towered in the distance, a painful reminder for Lexa that the struggle of all Grounder people continued.

Ever since the Skai people had arrived on earth, the Grounders had a reason to unite under one Heda. Lexa had fought hard, first the Mountainmen and then to fend off Skai. She was in her late thirties now, the Commander who had led war campaigns against the Mountain and Skai people and had succeeded in the tribal wars against Ice nation.

For many generations, the Grounders feared and fought the mountain dwellers. Their potions made raging mindless monsters of Grounders, and their weapons were far superior to Grounder swords and spears. But their bodies were weak and they were bound to remain inside their impenetrable mountain fortress. Instead, they enslaved Grounder warriors to raid the villages and keep the tribes at bay.

Initially, when Skai people fell to earth in their metal ships, their envoys would try to engage peacefully with Grounders but as time advanced it was clear that the factions would not see eye to eye.

Five generations ago the Mountainmen welcomed an alliance with Skai people. With the pact suddenly emerged machines in the forests that were the shapes of beasts. At first, the Grounders dismantled them just for parts, but with each device type that appeared in the woods, the machines became better Grounder predators.

Most machines took the shape of native animals; others looked more humanoid and walked on two legs. The Grounders learned to fight them all. Despite the relentless attacks on Grounders the outlanders did not succeed to overwhelm the native tribes of Earth. The harsh climate, unusual weather and diseases protected the Grounders from their perpetrators, at least for now.

To Lexa, they were all prey, not predators. She honed her skills by venturing out on her own. She ordered her personal guard to stand by with her horse on the outskirts of Tondisi, often for days, until she would return with a pouch full of machine parts, bruised, dirty, but satisfied from the single hunting trip.

Lexa ran the far distance towards the forest clearing. A month ago Grounders spies had found and tortured a Skai patrol on the outskirts of Tondisi. With their dying breath, they revealed some hidden secrets of Skai.

Heda learnt that for two years the leader of Skai was a woman called Klark who succeeded her mother, Abigail. Klark had strengthened the defences of Castle Jaha and for reasons unknown had broken off the alliance with the Mountain. Skai was now isolated, and Lexa thought about mounting an attack in due time. It had been an unusually quiet five years for her people, and as with any warrior nation, this led to boredom and infighting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 


	2. Know who you are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa and Costia's relationship past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The images- do you find them annoying in the text itself? Should I post them separately or not at all?...

The corridors of Polis Tower echoed with the white noise of senseless chatter from a metal box on Lexa's chamber floor.  
_"Nothing soft ever comes out of the Bronx, or so goes the saying! For a limited time get...get chhhhhh"_ Lexa stopped the bubbling old voice machine with the gibberish gonasleng sounds. She collected items in the overgrown ruins of the ancients and tinkered with them. Sometimes the rusty boxes could still reveal their purpose, but mostly she only cut herself on shards and wires. It gave her something to do when sitting quietly in her chambers and meditating was impossible because her restless mind kept wandering back to Costia. 

Heda was always presenting herself with an infallible mask, and most days her demonstrated strength and aloofness did not allow anyone to become personal with her. In the decade before she had lost the people closest to her. Both her advisors, Titus and General Anya died during the wars. 

The seven years with Costia allowed Lexa to strip off the steely Heda mask and become skin and flesh, heart and mind. Lexa often woke up from dreams of blood and slaughter, but Costia would be there and soothe her until the hunger to make love would take over once more. Costia was a warrior of her tribe, but she had a penance for knowledge and taught Lexa how valuable ancient wisdom could be for their people. They welcomed a defected Skai woman called Okteivia kom Skai Kru to teach them to write and read gonasleng.

The end of their love came in the disguise of a letter stash, hidden away in a desk drawer. Lexa was looking for paper and found a pile of recent, unopened letters by Costia's former lover. To Lexa's dismay, Costia could not explain what those letters meant to her. Costia had shied away from her past and denied herself to think about it. Lexa, carried by her deep feelings encouraged Costia to find out what the letter writer still meant to her. She was so confident that Costia would return to her side unphased that she even gave her a guide and a horse for the travel to the former lover's house. Lexa breathed deeply and waited, full of love and hope. She placed her ultimate trust in Costia and their love for each other. 

Then the grief, hurt and anger made it impossible for her to understand what Costia said on her return. Costia spoke of her doubts and that she did not want to lose Lexa, but that she was unsure about their future. Her voice faded into the background for Lexa when Costia admitted that she had slept with the other woman.

Blood roared in Lexa's ears; she felt the ground was about to swallow her. She dragged herself to the balcony and stared into oblivion without blinking until her green eyes filled with tears and overflowed like a river. She just stood silently like a statue, tears running down her face. Costia pleaded with her to come back to the room, to at least say something. But Lexa lost all will to move, think or listen. She stood there all night on the balcony, overlooking Polis. By morning Costia had left crying, closing the door on their love. 

The days and months that followed changed how Lexa thought about life. She lost her appetite but started intense combat training, she drank more wine and kept herself away from others. Lexa felt numb to cuts and bruises but intensely felt the heartache in her chest and the tingling sadness in her throat. A few times she followed women down the road because she thought they were Costia, only to be angry at feeling weakness and despair.

Lexa kept wearing the failure of their love like shackles for three more years. Sometimes a woman would catch her eye because she reminded her of Costia somehow- the way she carried herself, wore her hair or spoke. Lexa took those women to her bed for comfort and warmth, but she never allowed herself to get too close.

Night after night she dreamt vividly about Costia's body, the lust, the sex, her voice, and their deep connection. At first, it felt like torture, but as time went past, the craving separated from reality and Costia's ghostly presence became a place for Lexa to escape. Then the decade-long civil war erupted and the years flew by in survival politics.

Fifteen years passed since; Lexa had almost reached her forties, the dreams grew more distant and became more abstract; the nagging pain had gone. Lexa even managed to see now that she was still fantasising about the past and that she knew nothing of the woman Costia had become. 

There were many months now when she did not think of Costia until one night she woke and felt genuinely concerned about her. The following morning Lexa sent out Otan. Days later he reported Costia had indeed fallen ill. Otan said Costia fell in love and married the woman who had nursed her back to health. Costia, now the wife of a nurse who lived remotely on the outskirts of Azgeda. 

It was hard to hear for Lexa, even after fifteen years. More surprising was that Otan returned with a letter. She hesitated to look at Costia's handwriting. Sometimes she had wished, Costia had passed away so that it would have been easier to grief and move on. Now Lexa was always reminded of what was possible in love and how they both had failed to make it last and lived to know about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/33833533805/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 
> 
>  
> 
> Some old skool lyrics:
> 
> And I'd give up forever to touch you  
> 'Cause I know that you feel me somehow  
> You're the closest to heaven that I'll ever be  
> And I don't want to go home right now
> 
> And all I can taste is this moment  
> And all I can breathe is your life  
> And sooner or later it's over  
> I just don't wanna miss you tonight
> 
> And I don't want the world to see me  
> 'Cause I don't think that they'd understand  
> When everything's meant to be broken  
> I just want you to know who I am  
> I just want you to know who I am
> 
>    
> Source:  
> https://play.google.com/music/preview/Tnta6jkyyq3nyui6g772l45chdq?lyrics=1&utm_source=google&utm_medium=search&utm_campaign=lyrics&pcampaignid=kp-lyrics


	3. Between the Lines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is coming to grips with her past and the present is chasing her down.

### Tondisi Hunting Grounds

Lexa often came to this forest clearing in her guise as a hunter. The wind in the trees made a soft humming sound, and the patch was embraced by a rocky ridge which made it safe to rest. After much procrastination, she pulled out Costia's unopened letter. She sharply inhaled and broke the envelope. Only a few lines, scribbled with a shaky hand.

" _Lexa Heda. I don't know where to start but thank you for your concern about me. Otan told me you are strong and healthy as ever.  
I had a fever and nearly died. It took me six months to get back on my feet. It seems this sickness has cost me my memory. I don't recall much from the past. It saddens me to say that it has wiped out most of who I was with you. I only recall how beautiful you were and that we once were very much in love. Please don't misunderstand this, but if I ever meant anything to you, don't contact me again. Costia._ "

A sudden wind gust curled the paper and ripped it from her hand. She rushed to her feet and grabbed it, tore it and stomped the pieces into the ground, feeling angry and sad. A thought crossed her mind that Costia meant between the lines "I love you still, don't make this hard for me", but the worst part felt like she was now truly alone and Costia had finally severed their intricate connection.

A resentful growl emerged from her throat, and she drew her swords looking to destroy something. She was so angry that she hurled both swords at a tree trunk, impaling a squirrel that had curiously come to watch her rampage. It shrieked as it died and Lexa instantly stopped in her tracks. She removed the skewered body and fell to her knees regretting the outburst.

A subtle change in the air, branches rustling, Lexa was back on her feet. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a movement, disappearing behind the trees on the right. She was far from Skai territory, so this was either a machine, animal or scout. In either case, Lexa felt compelled to hunt down what had caught her off guard. As she ran towards the noise on the right, she could clearly make out machine made footprints and hastened to catch up with the witness. Soon she saw the surefooted fugitive scout the size of a wolf. Lexa tried to cut if off before it crossed into the Broadleaf territory. On a ridge, she used her sling and aimed to cut it down. The explosive hit the back of its metal legs, and it fell on its side. Lexa ran towards it but immediately took a dive behind a fallen log when suddenly gun bullets ricocheted around her. 

The gunfire ceased. Lexa looked around to find the source. Silence for a minute then a female voice shouted: "ste where yu laik grounder!"* It was enough to pinpoint the direction, and Lexa dashed to a nearby rock. "Nou be a fool grounder! bants nau en ai teik yu live."** Lexa perked up because only Skai people used guns and words like this. Her gonasleng was a bit rusty: "Skai fool you are an ass!" she yelled as loud as she could. A bullet hit the ridge just in front of her arm, sending debris flying. "Ai warned yu! sitta!"***

Lexa made her way to a nearby rock closer to the voice. A shock of dark hair appeared briefly from behind thick Underwood. Lexa threw a rock to distract the gunslinger and seized the moment to attack her from the other side. She landed hard on the crouching woman who was too late realising how close Lexa was. The Commander hit her in the face, and the rifle fell from the woman's hands. Lexa knelt on her chest and pinned her arms in a steely grip. "Chon yu bilaik en chit do yu want hir? speak nau!"****

The dark haired woman was petite and easy to overwhelm, she was no warrior. She wore typical Skai clothing and to her right was a box connected to a power cell. Lexa let her sit up and catch her breath. Before she could question her more, the cold steel of a pistol was at the back of her head. A female voice commanded: "Let her go, bitch!" 

 

*Stay where you are Grounder!  
**Don't be a fool Grounder! Leave now, and I let you live!  
***I warned you! Stay down!  
****Who are you and what do you want here? Speak now!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/33891477886/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	4. Captivated

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is captured by the Skai

### Tondisi Hunting Grounds

Lexa blinked, not used to being insulted. The female behind her disarmed her. "Get up slowly, or you're going to die when you try anything, anything at all, do you hear, Grounder?" Lexa contemplated to fight, but she wanted to know who was able to sneak up on her so expertly. She stood up with her hands raised slowly, towering tall over the petite in front of her. The woman winced and fetched her rifle. 

"Are you ok, Raven?" the female voice behind Lexa sounded concerned for her brown-haired companion. Raven nodded. "Yes, just my ego got bruised. What took you so long? I got it all set up until the knuckle dragger here turned up hot on the heels of our Dodgey." Lexa did understand enough to know that the Skai women had not recognised her and the machine she had chased belonged to them. Raven touched a window on the box, and to Lexa's astonishment, she could see the past of herself kneeling on the clearing. She was so surprised that she wanted to get her hands on the box and blurted out "how did yu do bilaik?"*

Her captor pressed the gun between her shoulders. "Easy! Don't move!" Lexa turned her head slowly to take a glimpse at the woman. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blonde woman her age. Their eyes briefly met. "C'on, Clarke, you can't leave her here, she'll follow us home like a bad smell," said Raven pointing to the box: "Beats me what she did back there but it looked like a hissy fit to me."

Lexa breathed in sharply when she heard the name of the Skai Chancellor. "She's a soldier, judging by the swords and war paint. We take her back and find out more," Clarke grabbed Lexa's shoulder to face her. Lexa stood taller than Clarke and looked straight past her with her chin tilted forward and a steely green gaze from underneath a black hood. "Tie her up, Raven, we'll leave." The petite Skai woman tied Lexa's hands behind her back with a strap. "Let me look at Dodgey; I might be able to get him back online," said Raven. It was afternoon by now, and Clarke felt uncomfortable. "Who knows whether they'll start searching for her. Take a few minutes to fix him but then let's go", Clarke pointed the gun at Lexa: "yu sitta!"**

Lexa perched down with her legs crossed. Clarke did not take her eyes off the prisoner. Something told her the Grounder was more dangerous than she made out to be. Beyond the black grime that covered her chiselled face, her gaze was intelligent. The long sleeved, shabby hunter leathers hung around her wiry frame as if they didn't belong to her. Beneath the hood, she wore her dark hair in traditional braids. Lexa's interest in the machine monitor did not escape Clarke. The Grounder's eyes wandered to Raven and studied what the woman was doing to fix the machine a few feet away. "I might be super girl mechanic, but Dodgey here's busted up right. I'll get the hard drive and fusion coil."

Clarke gestured for her prisoner to get up. "C'on Raven, let's go." A hissing and ticking sound had come from the machine before it shut off completely. Raven shouldered her backpack with the box and parts, Lexa's weapons and the rifle. Lexa wandered behind her and Clarke followed with the pistol drawn. 

After an hour they arrived at the pass where three Skai people waited with horses. "Who's this? Where's Dodgey?" a tall skinny Skai boy leant over carefully to inspect Lexa. "She killed Dodgey," Raven sighed. "What do you want with her?", he inquired. Clarke got on her horse after she secured a rope to handcuffed Lexa. "She saw us. Besides, she might know what has happened to Kyle and Michael." The boy furrowed his brow. "Kill her! She would kill you!" 

Lexa looked at him and thought he was right. Trikru had not hesitated to kill the Skaikru spies a few months ago. It was a dangerous game Lexa played, but she was too intrigued to see herself in grave danger. 

The convoy arrived at the castle gates with the last rays of the sun. Lexa had watched how Clarke had spoken a secret code into a handheld device shortly before the main gates swung open and revealed a contingent of Skai soldiers. 

 

*How did you do that?  
** You, sit down!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/33882532351/in/dateposted-public/)  
>    
> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/33897978331/in/dateposted-public/)


	5. Moving In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa undercover or just a prisoner?

### Castle Jaha, Arkadia Capital

The castle complex leant against a sheer rock cliff. An abstract sculpture of the ancient Ark stood tall in the central square. Beneath it was a big wreath with the name 'Abigail Griffin, Chancellor' emblazoned on it. Some of the smooth lined buildings were new; a sense of cleanliness and order was part of the atmosphere. The Trikru Commander was all ears and eyes, trying to grasp as much detail as she could. 

In the compound, the riders got off their horses. The soldier's reluctantly made way for Clarke's prisoner as she led her up the stairs towards the main building. Clarke turned around and faced the assembly that quickly gathered. "She's an older Grounder; she might be close to their Commander." Clarke looked down the stairs at Lexa's stoic pose. She could not help but admire her calmness and posture. A bystander spat on the ground next to the prisoner. Clarke gestured for Lexa to move upstairs and indoors. Raven and a cohort of soldiers followed the women inside.

They entered the meeting hall. An older man sat alone at the round table that dominated the conference room. Scattered handheld devices were on the table around him. He looked up in surprise when Clarke appeared with the Grounder in tow. "Eric. I need to talk to you about the serum. We need this one to talk." The man rose to get a look at the strange trio. Raven pulled out the machine parts and placed Lexa's weapons on the table. Lexa moved swiftly away to avoid Eric's hand that intended to tear down her right jacket sleeve. The soldiers lifted their rifles. Clarke intervened: "It's ok; we can inspect her later." Eric returned slowly to his seat. "She will have a skin symbol that tells us her rank. In your view, what makes her unique, Clarke?" 

"This one understands gonasleng, and we found her at a clearing reading something on paper."  
"Reading you say? That's indeed interesting."-  
"Watch the recording, Eric."-  
"I will, Clarke, I will. If you'll excuse, I need to figure out what we are dealing with in the basement."  
Raven was curious. "What's in the cellar, Dr Jackson?"  
Without looking up from the table, he said dismissively: "Go Raven, Clarke, I'll meet you in thirty minutes in the Med Bay."  
Raven shrug her shoulders. The head of the council was always grumpy. Since the split from Mount Weather five years before, Abby's death and Clarke's inauguration to Chancellor, Raven had lost interest in being of the inner circle of decision makers. These days, she liked to focus on improving her machine creations and working on the defence systems of Arcadia territory.

Clarke handed Lexa's ties to one one of the soldiers. "Take her to lockup five and bring her to the lab in an hour." Lexa knew that being alone on her way with the guards was another chance to escape, but on hearing that she would be speaking to Clarke again, she kept passive. Lexa's current plan included kidnapping the Chancellor and making her reveal the secret of the machines and plans of attack. 

The door opened, and the prisoner trail in motion came to a halt. Suddenly seven young children poured in towards Clarke. Everyone was momentarily confused by the flurry of small people streaming past the adults. Clarke raised her arms, and the growing horde stopped in their tracks. "I'm not impressed", she shouted. "Didn't we agree that the hall is off limits to you at all times?" Lexa would have liked to listen in, but her captor pushed her out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/33660601400/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	6. Truth or Dare

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa's game takes a dangerous turn and Clarke is finding it hard to concentrate

### Castle Jaha, Arkadia Capital

Clarke looked at the syringe with the green solution when Eric entered the Med Bay. He asked other medical staff to leave the room. "There are more pressing issues than this Grounder, Clarke." Here is the phial with the missing protein. Make it last. Then I need to you see you about the basement problem." Clarke turned to him. "I assume you did not watch the footage of her. Here is something that should interest you!" She pointed to a monitor that showed Lexa entering the lockup. Guards ordered her to strip off her top. A hidden dagger was in her boots. Then Clarke said: "Watch this, look at her back and arm markings. She is no ordinary foot soldier; she's Heda Lexa kom Trikru!"

Eric cleared his throat in surprise. Both stared at the beautiful woman who stood head held high and arms by her side. Clarke suddenly felt like a perpetrator and turned her back to the screen. Eric shook his head. "This is incredible! She just wandered in here like a lamb to the slaughter! What kind of tactics are these?", he wondered out loud. Clarke didn't reply. 

She took one last look at Lexa who was ordered to redress. "This changes the odds in our favour. We can get anything we want if we play our cards right", Jackson said.  
"I doubt it. They will replace her faster than lightning", replied Clarke.  
"Well, get her to speak, then we'll consider the options. Now to the basement problem..."  
Clarke interrupted the elder. "Has it changed in the last five hours? If not, I'd like to get on with this investigation."  
Eric raised an eyebrow but said nothing and left. 

Clarke risked another look at the monitor, but the guards had already ushered Lexa back towards Med Bay. Three men entered with the prisoner. Clarke pointed to a chair. "Sit there. If you cooperate, nothing will happen to you."  
Lexa looked at Clarke; a slight smirk curled her upper lip. Clarke knew that Trikru warriors trained to bear torture that would break down Skai people in no time. With the help of mind altering drugs, however, any Grounder resistance could be overcome quickly. Clarke said: "Say something, I know you can understand me, Lexa." 

The Commander smiled a sad smile. "So you know who I am, Klark kom Skaikru."  
Clarke's blue eyes blinked in surprise at the pronunciation of her name and the direct challenge in Lexa's eyes as she sat upright on the chair. 

"Well, why did you let me capture you? You are the great Commander, the enemy of the Skai." Clarke stood a few feet away with her syringe, and for a moment she felt as having an audience with Lexa sitting on the legendary Trikru throne.

"I met you once before, Klark when we were both pups, and you were hiding behind your mother. Abigel begged us for a cease-fire to bury your dead." Clarke took a step closer to the chair. "You don't say. I remember you, too. A skinny Seken with big ambitions and war paint like a racoon!" Lexa's eyes narrowed, as she said with an amused look: "Ge smak daun, gyon op nodotaim."* 

Clarke tried to concentrate on her task, but instead, she felt her heart race for no apparent reason. Lexa broke the awkward silence.  
"Tell me what these machines mean that you send out." Clarke shook her head laughing unconvincingly.  
"Are you serious? You are MY prisoner; I ask the questions! And for this I have...".  
Instead of injecting her she just raised the needle until Lexa's eyes followed her hand upwards to meet Clarke's eyes.  
Lexa's expression suddenly changed from aloof to forlorn, and she quietly said with a raspy voice: "Dula yu du en shil yu kru op."**

Clarke lowered the syringe and visibly swallowed. She turned around and looked at the floor. "You are a kru heda and so am I. So let's talk freely from nation to nation. Lexa's body tensed up. She leant forward, and the soldiers moved closer ready to restrain her.  
"You are weak, Klark kom Skaikru! My fight may be over, but your kru will not survive. We will crush you, and we will defeat the moun men!"  
Clarke fired up: "So this is about more bloodshed! I hoped you had brains, Lexa!" 

With this taunt, Clarke had triggered the warrior, and the soldiers stepped in to restrain her. Clarke came closer and injected the serum into her arm. Lexa's eyes shot hate at Clarke, but within seconds she glazed over. Lexa sank back into the chair, eyes half closed. Clarke cooed: "Lexa kom Trikru, why are you here?"  
Lexa felt as if she was wading through molasses to find words that made sense to her. She thought of something insulting to say but instead, she listening casually to herself as if she was sitting beside the chair. 

"You found me when I was crying. I was embarrassed, so I followed you. I heard you were Klark; I wanted to kill you, but then I wanted to know you. So now I'm here to learn your Skai secrets." Clarke stepped back in disappointment. No grand war plans, conspiracies or back-stabbing revelations. It was a chance encounter and a strange one at that.  
"What were you reading, Lexa?" she probed. Lexa's head tilted back.  
"Lost words from a lost love."

Clarke had heard the rumours about Lexa's sexuality and her womanising ways were the joke of beer halls and drunken guard boastings. "Lush like Lexa" was a common saying amongst the kru. Looking at her in person was a different matter, and Clarke admitted that Lexa had something about her. Bright green eyes sparkled from underneath her blackened face: "Tell me, Klark, what do you know of love? Are you in love?"

The Chancellor looked up at the guards who tried to keep poker faces, but it was evident that tonight she was going to be the joke at the table of these guys. "Wait outside; she's in no way a threat anymore." Somewhat hesitant they left. "Lexa, Lexa." It seemed Clarke's subject had fallen asleep. Lexa heard her captor's words from afar. She opened her dilated green eyes expectantly.  
"So, do you know?"-  
"Know what?"-  
"About weakness."-  
"Lexa, how many warriors do you have under your command?"-  
"Many. They don't all love me."-  
"What will you do if I let you go."-  
"Go home and think about it."-  
"Think about what?"-  
"Love."

Clarke was getting nowhere with her interrogation. A lovesick opponent was not what she had expected. Lexa bent forward, dangerously embracing a struggling Clarke. Lexa nuzzled herself close to her throat and inhaled Clarke's collarbone scent. Clarke's voluptuous body erupted in goosebumps. She quickly pushed Lexa back on the chair. "Ok, that's it...we'll talk later!"  
Clarke stormed out of the Med Bay, leaving Lexa behind. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * Get knocked down, get back up.  
> ** Do your job and protect your people
> 
> I may post some illustrations when they become available.


	7. The Unknown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It gets weirder and weirder :)

### Castle Jaha, Arkadia Capital

Eric Jackson entered data, filmed the anomalies and hoped to be able to explain them with his scientific observations. It was the third time the apparition had moved to another location in the castle, and thankfully always out of sight of the public kru. The basement was the showcase of the latest defect in the castle. At first, he thought it might have been the Moun men playing some projection tricks on them but it was not a projection, and nothing documented he could find from ancient sources explained the electricity loaded appearances in the middle of the room. 

Accompanied by crackling electricity that whipped through the room occasionally, shapeshifting abstracts showed a room that warped and expanded and fell back into itself like a pulsating, breathing box. The edges were dark and frayed as if they were held together by a larger construct. At some point, Jackson threw a pen at the apparition, and the pen disappeared only to reemerge by falling from the ceiling in his bedroom that night.

Clarke stood next to him taking a recording. When they had finished, he turned to her: "What has come from your interrogation of the Trikru woman?"-   
"Nothing much. It was pure coincidence that we captured her roaming the woods."-  
"How long until we have another bunch of savages at our doorstep?"-  
"Maybe a few weeks."

Jackson absentmindedly rubbed his neck. "Clarke, this generation is threatened by many things. We are now on our own and this..."- he pointed at the apparition- "...worries me incredibly." "We've watched this now three months come and go. Is it something like a wormhole?" Jackson shook his head.   
"No, I don't know. You might think me crazy, but it looks like a dimension breach."

Lexa opened her eyes on a mattress in lockup five. She felt the worst hangover. She barely made it to the bucket in the corner and retched up, but her stomach was already empty. Lexa had wasted enough time on this embarrassment. She knew that her Seken would have looked for her by now and alarmed Trikru leaders. The door to her cell opened, a soldier shoved his rifle in her face and ordered her to follow. Lexa stumbled to her feet, dizzy and drowsy. 

She followed in the corridor to another large room with workbenches. It was Raven's workshop, and Clarke was there again; Lexa didn't feel in a state to see either of them. Raven curled her lips in disgust. "Oh man, did you forget her in a tavern under the beer tap? She looks less sourly but smells like it instead!"

Clarke avoided to look at Lexa and instead pointed to an adjacent room. "Take a shower, you reek. Clothes in there are for you."  
Lexa walked past them. A guard took a position in front of the door. Clarke tried to concentrate on the plans spread on the work benches and listen intently to Raven's new ideas. To her annoyance, her mind wandered off to the bathroom. 

She could hear the water and imagined Lexa's body stretching up to wash away the remains of the drug on her skin. The curve of her jaw was unusually high, and the water would pool on her lower lip. Clarke looked up at Raven and smiled, but she heard nothing the mechanic said. She could feel the tingling in her belly when she was just thinking back to Lexa's drowsy embrace. Clarke shifted uncomfortably from one leg to the other. 

Lexa emerged with wet, tussled hair. The braids were gone, and thick wavy hair fell over her shoulders. She wore a white woven shirt which accentuated her collar bones and muscular frame. Her long legs stuck in brown, ankle-high pants and she wore Skai sandals that looked too big for her. "Looks like a human now," Raven grunted. Clarke said nothing. Lexa folded her hands in front of her and looked seemingly refreshed. 

A knock on the door and two of the children entered Lexa had seen earlier. The older girl had Clarke's fair complexion, and the younger boy had dark hair. "Night Mum." To Lexas' surprise, Clarke hugged them both and kissed their foreheads. Both hugged Raven and looked with curious blue eyes at Lexa before they left. 

"The yongons are yours?" Clarke looked at her: "Yes, they are. Is this the sort of information you wanted, Lexa?" The Commander looked sideways before she answered quietly: "They are strong." 

Clarke focused back on the work bench. "We have a problem, Lexa. And as far as problems go, this one is bigger than our quarrel." The Trikru Commander raised an eyebrow. "Quarrel? I don't understand."  
"We should stop fighting. A new enemy is coming that threatens all of us, even the Maunon." Lexa searched Clarke's face for any sarcasm, but she seemed to mean it. "Who is this enemy you speak of?"

Clarke pointed to the work bench. "Raven can show you a recording."   
To Lexa's delight, the box spat out moving pictures again. What she saw did not make much sense at first. The footage was taking from the perspective of one of the animal machines. It was patrolling a path near the Castle. Suddenly it stopped. A smaller version of what was in the basement manifested in front of the machine. For a second the apparition showed a contorted face shape in the middle, then the lighting fingers whipped across the machine and cut it down. Lexa backed away in disbelieve: "What happened to it?"

"This was one time, but it happens across the castle randomly for the last three months. We have measured its output, and our scientists believe it will grow in strength and devour where we all live if we don't stop it first."   
"I saw something that looked like a head."   
"Yes, which is why we think it's man-made."  
Lexa thought about what she had seen and wondered how she would describe it to her people. "Klark, I need to see for myself. Is there one now in the castle?" Raven and Clarke exchanged glances.   
"Yes, it's in the basement since yesterday", replied Clarke. She looked to the guards. "Seargent, what you and your crew just heard is highly confidential, do you understand?" The soldier nodded. 

Eric Jackson stood in the basement with a handheld scanner trying to figure out what the apparition would do next. At times it would show flashes of separate existing places nearby, at times it would project outlines and shapes of people or buildings unknown. The door opened, Clarke entered with Raven and the tied up Lexa in tow. 

Eric shook his head: "What are you doing, Clarke? I don't need more spectators!" Lexa stepped back in surprise when she saw the apparition. Raven shook her head in disbelief. The radiating, pulsating phenomenon dominated the basement. Lexa stepped closer next to Clark and quietly said: " What will happen if we step into it?" Clarke turned to her, searching Lexa's eyes about some clues since what the Commander just suggested was unthinkable to her. 

Clarke felt the hairs on her neck standing, partially because Lexa stood too close and because she imagined entering the apparition. She shook her head. Lexa held her gaze a little too long. The Trikru Commander caught herself starting and swallowed hard to focus back on the reason why they were here. 

"This looks bad. It's bigger since yesterday," said Raven.   
Sudden flashes of electricity crept across the floor like spidery fingers. Jackson stepped hastily backwards to a safer distance. Clarke raised her voice above the crackling sound. "Eric, do you know why it grows larger?" He shook his head: "I've got my pen back, Clarke. That's pretty much all I can say with confidence..." 

Without warning, Lexa threw off the sandals, straightened up and leapt barefooted towards the apparition. The rope slipped between Clarke's fingers, and she sprinted after Lexa, shouting her name.


	8. Trapped

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Split decisions trap Lexa and Clarke in a strange place

### Castle Jaha, Basement

As Lexa dived into the anomaly, the whole room seemed to breathe in and out, her body was caught in midair, and everyone else in the room was frozen in movement. Lexa felt like she had jumped into ice-cold water. 

A blinding flash of light and a deep growling sound robbed her of orientation and consciousness. Sound and light were fading into all-embracing darkness. A deep humming sound came from the bowels of the apparition when time suddenly bounced back. With it, Lexa was expelled from the spectre with a thunder clapping sound that threw her backwards. 

She opened her eyes to find herself draped across an unconscious Clarke. Lexa rolled off onto her back disoriented. It was strangely quiet. She sat up to look around. 

The apparition had vanished and with it Eric and Raven. To Lexa's relief, Clarke was still breathing. She reached for Clarke's boot dagger and freed her hands from the rope. Fine black dust covered both women. Lexa wiped the dust from Clarke's nose, subconsciously tracing the contour of her nose and the dimple on her chin. 

Clarke opened her eyes and looked confused at Lexa. "What just happened?"   
Before Lexa could say anything, Clarke moaned: "Aaah, you... you crazy, crazy... I have no fuckin' words to describe you!" and then she rattled off a long list of swear words at Lexa.   
When she stopped to catch her breath, Lexa replied: "You Skai are ruder than Maunon." Clarke clenched her jaw as she sat up slowly.

"Here is your dagger, Klark."  
Clarke reluctantly snatched the dagger from Lexa's hand.   
"Thanks. Does this mean you don't want to be my prisoner anymore?"-  
"This is sarcasm, yes, Klark?"-  
"Yes, Lexa, it is."

The women got up and walked around the room. They discovered nothing unusual in the basement except Lexa's shoes had disappeared along with Eric and Raven. The women headed to the exit and expected to find guards posted outside, but nobody was there. 

Clarke became increasingly worried about her children and started to sprint towards their sleeping quarters. Lexa followed her; they ran past the hall, the corridors, the lockup, but no sign of anyone. Clarke had reached her private quarters and shouted her children's names. 

"Skye, Jake, where are you?" Clarke came to a halt in front of their untouched beds. She looked around anxiously. "Where are they? Where is everybody? Shit, I'm going insane!" 

Lexa checked Clarke's adjacent room, she looked out the windows, but the castle inhabitants seemed to all have vanished. Clarke swivelled around to Lexa with desperation in her eyes. She was shaking, Lexa saw the tears in her eyes and felt guilty about the pain she had caused Clarke. 

"We must explore the rest of the grounds. We will find your children."-   
"Lexa, I was never so afraid in my whole life."   
Clarke took a pistol from the weapons cabinet in her room.   
"I believe my weapons are still in Raven's workshop," said Lexa.

Minutes later the Commander had armed herself and changed into her boots. Clarke and Lexa headed outside, but the strange situation remained. For the rest of the afternoon they searched and found no one. At dusk, Lexa suggested they return to the castle rooms. Clarke had a quiet determination about her as she went to the Med Bay and asked to be alone. 

Lexa's foraging in the castle kitchen did not turn out so well, so she went outside to hunt for a rabbit. In the early morning hours, Lexa returned to Med Bay with Clarke's share of the meal she had made. She entered quietly, Clarke was pouring over a monitor and notes she had scribbled on paper. 

Lexa cleared her throat to announce her presence. Clarke looked up, exhausted. "You have to eat something, Klark." -   
"Lexa, there is no recording of anything we saw earlier. The dimension leak trapped us inside. The reason why I'm here with you is that I followed you in. No one is with us because they are all outside the apparition."

Lexa nodded; Clarke's reasoning made sense.   
"If this is true, then your children are safe, and we should explore this leak until we find a way back."   
Clarke shook her head. "You don't understand Lexa. Time in here might go by slower and a night in here is maybe a year out there in our dimension."

After a long pause, Lexa said: "why did you follow me?"   
Clarke shot her piercing glances. "I do not wish to discuss this, Lexa kom Trikru."  
"Come eat, Klark. You have to keep up your strength."  
Clarke sighed and grabbed the rabbit leg from the plate Lexa offered. Two bites in she realised how hungry she was. 

Late that morning, Clarke woke in her bed. For a minute she thought everything was normal, but then she bolted upright remembering the situation. Only dressed in an oversized sweater, she stormed out to the connecting rooms. Lexa was standing beside the window, cleaning her weapons. She had slept on Jake's bed and got up much earlier to find breakfast. Lexa looked up and down on Clarke and returned stoically to cleaning her blades. Clarke felt suddenly very conscious about her semi-nakedness.

"So it's real..."-  
"Yes Klark, we are still trapped."  
Clarke's eyes fell on the paper next to the breakfast plate. Eight-year-old Jake had made a drawing of his older sister and mother in front of the Skai statue. "They mean the world to me," Clarke said. 

Lexa wanted to console her, but she didn't know how. Instead, she clumsily said: "Do you live with their father?"  
Clarke did not look up from the paper. "He chose to stay with the Mountain."

Lexa walked up to Clarke, but the Blonde put the paper down and went to her room closing the door behind her, leaving Lexa stranded with her thoughts. 

Minutes later, she emerged from her room, dressed and armed. "Let's find this apparition leak." Lexa was relieved that the Skai woman had snapped back into no-nonsense-matter-of-fact Clarke. "Today we should scout to the East. I saw a change in the skai", said Lexa.

They had walked three hours in silence towards the eastern outskirts when the landscape had changed. Instead of roaming hills and forest, there was unfamiliar bushland. The women arrived at a massive concrete construction. 

One side of it was a rusty green skeleton, but the other aspect of the building seemed intact as if it had been functional for much longer than any other ancient housing they knew. 

They could make out exposed doors and interiors with many tables, electric devices, wires and scattered bricks. Lexa stopped and unsheathed her swords. Clarke drew her pistol when she stepped closer and quietly said: "This is new."

The structure had halfway sunken into the ground. A gaping hole led into the bowels of the construct. At first, they thought wind trapped in the crevices caused the chiming, but when they cautiously reached the entry, it was unmistakably the faint sound of human-made music. 

A female voice sang in an ancient unfamiliar language, accompanied by drums. Lexa and Clarke entered the dark space. Floor track lighting was dimly showing them the way to the source of music. A dark tunnel wound upwards to a metal door. 

Lexa turned the handle and pushed the door wide open, ready for fight or flight.


	9. Deeper

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa and Clarke make love. What else do we expect?

### East of Arkadia

The room opened up to an opulent ancient interior. The source of music was a box on the floor. Even patterns covered the walls. The bed was central to the chamber with soft cushions and covers. 

Everything was pristine, bottles and glasses, the long curtains from high ceilings looked new. It was nothing like anything they had ever seen. Clarke lowered her pistol and wandered around in disbelieve until she plopped herself on the bed unceremoniously. Lexa looked out the window expecting this to be a trap. The curtains gently swayed in the breeze.

Lexa stood by the window catching glimpses of Clarke touching the soft fabrics with a weary smile on her face. The song blended into another subtle melody and the sun-drenched room exuded calmness and warmth. Lexa blocked the door with a chair under the handle. Clarke watched her: "Do you think this will stop the bad wolf from coming through here?"

"Wolves no, but people, yes", said Lexa. I will take some things from this room, but first I want to remove the parts from the box."  
"This bed is incredibly soft. Try it"-  
"Klark, you're not suggesting..."-  
"I'm tired, that's all."-  
"Sure. I will try."

The music stopped, and they were left to listen to the derelict building noises when Lexa scavenged the box. By the time she looked up, Clarke had fallen asleep on the bed. Lexa took her time to study Clarke's face. 

Fine lines had carved around her mouth and piercing eyes. Her chin dimple punctuated a strong jaw line. Lexa imagined how Clarke might have looked in her twenties and admitted that she would have been attracted to the Blonde even then. Now they were at least two significant lovers, two children and a million situations apart.

Since she destroyed Costia's letter, Lexa felt cathartic calmness. Inner peace was all she had wanted in recent years, no more doubt or regrets. Ironically now she felt at peace in a life-threatening situation, like it was the final arrival at a distant shore; a rewarding exhaustion knowing she did her best. Was that the feeling of closure?

Clarke rolled on her side. Lexa took another look outside and allowed herself to relax next to the Blonde. Clarke murmured something in her sleep, Lexa stretched out next to her, careful not to disturb her. 

The bed was uncomfortably soft. Lexa held watch next to Clarke, staring at the ceiling. First, she counted the patterns on the wall, then the moving shadows on the ceiling. The Brunette enjoyed the fact that she had nothing to think about except how she felt in the presence of Clarke. 

Lexa did not allow herself to desire the Blonde. She wearily smiled when her memory wandered to General Anya, who turned to her with a stern face: "Craving women like her causes too much headache, Seken!" 

It started to rain as twilight set in, but Lexa decided not to disturb the Skai woman. The last light had vanished when all of a sudden Clarke was shooting upright next to her. Lexa stood up.

"Don't worry Klark; I kept us safe."-  
"Aw thanks, but no thanks!"-  
"I know you don't need protection, Klark kom Skai Kru. I was only suggesting..."-  
"It's dark now; we can't risk travelling back. We've achieved nothing today!"-  
"You slept well, Klark. I thought you needed the rest."-  
"Lexa, I need to get back to Jake and Skye!"-  
"Yes. But this is now, Klark."-  
"NOW doesn't exist! Why don't you get that?"-  
"Maybe because I lived all my life like today didn't exist, I finally get it, Klark! Life is more than just survival!"  
"Aw, spare me the trivials!", Clarke moved off the bed towards the door. There was no bypassing; both found themselves up, close and personal. An awkward pause followed. 

Clark's eyes were searching Lexa's until Clarke just gave into the urge and leant forward. Her heart and mind raced through the reasons why she shouldn't kiss Lexa on the mouth. She tasted buttery sweetness. In response Lexa's muscular body pressed against her, without hesitation, the Brunette's full lips explored the taste of Clarke's mouth. Clarke felt breathless; she ached to have Lexa's hands travel her naked skin. Lexa steered them backwards to the bed, without breaking the kiss. Clarke fell back on the sheets. Both paused long enough to kick off their clothes before Lexa joined her hastily on the bed. 

All their senses peaked in an explosion of craving for each other. Lexa's fingers journeyed over Clarke's body, alternating between kissing her on the mouth and cupping her full breasts to suck her nipples. Clarke's hands wandered along Lexa's muscular body until she could reach the wetness between Lexa's legs. The Brunette paused and looked her in the eyes until she positioned herself above Clarke. Nothing in this dimension felt as good as the sensation of Clarke slowly sliding into her.

Lexa's beautiful face was completely absorbed with the rhythm of Clarke's fingers inside her. She moved her hips faster, arched her back and peaked with deep shaking breaths. She withdrew slowly and kissed Clarke who was captivated by the way Lexa looked in the twilight. 

Before she could protest, Lexa moved down to Clarke's hips leaving her with goosebumps where her hands touched the salty skin. Lexa dipped her tongue into Clarke's centre, consuming her like honey. Her tongue was tasting Clarke's delicious wetness in slow licks, circling the hard centre of pleasure. Clarke surrendered control to her aching desire for Lexa. Impatiently she raised her hips to meet Lexa's full lips. 

Both now moved in the same rhythm, sweat trickling down their thighs and arms, answering the urge to melt into each other. Clarke was soaking wet, and Lexa tasted the change before the Blonde erupted with a deep sigh. Clarke leant over with tenderness and kissed Lexa. She felt light-headed, happy and worried all at once. It didn't take long until burning desire flared up again. 

Early morning light had returned when they both fell into a short exhausted sleep.


	10. On the Run

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa are on the move. Will they find a way back?

### East of Arkadia

Clarke opened her eyes and blinked at the sight of the shapely tattooed back that was indeed Heda Lexa's. Her thoughts skipped erratically between deciphering the tattoo symbols and smiling to herself about the sex snapshots in her head. Lexa was not her first woman, but gosh, she was breathtaking. Something had clicked between them that was more remarkable than a one night stand, but Clarke refused to follow her analytical mind to that place.

Lexa stirred and stretched like a kitten. She turned and faced Clarke looking sleepy underneath her tussled hair.  
"Hello," Clarke murmured. "Hello," Lexa replied with a soft smile. Clarke felt the immediate need of pressing her body against the stunning Brunette. Lexa's slightly dishevelled appearance melted her focus, and she bent to kiss her instantly. 

Clarke felt the ache rise again to continue where they had left off a few hours before, but instead, she wrenched herself away and sat up to focus on their situation. Lexa sensed the change and the softness evaporated between them as she got up to collect her clothes. Clarke absent-minded stared at her bedfellow getting dressed. 

Without warning, five sudden loud metallic bangs echoed through the hallway outside, followed by the sound of wind rushing through the door crevices. Clarke bolted off the bed, frantically assembling her outfit. Lexa was first at the door with drawn swords. She removed the chair prop and flung the door wide open. In the middle of the dark corridor was a small apparition which grew faster by the second. 

Clarke ran past Lexa who screamed after her to stop but she kept sprinting ahead as one of Lexa's swords swooshed past her towards the apparition. With a loud screeching noise, the sword ricocheted off the dimension leak and dropped to her feet with a split pommel and steaming hot metal blade. 

Clarke came to a standstill just seconds before entering the energy field. Lexa pulled her backwards to safety all the while the apparition spread hungry electric tentacles towards them.

"How did you know it wasn't safe to enter?", Clarke said breathlessly-  
"I watched the edges. On the recording, you showed me, and in the basement, they were different in colour and size. Every time it changes, the colour and the energy changes. It is like counting down the distance of a Thunderstorm."

With a deep breath, Clarke thanked Lexa quietly. Both looked up as the leak changed colour from blue to purplish red. A growling roar emerged now from the dimension hole, and they could make out the shapes of men running inside the apparition towards them.

This time Clarke thought on her feet and pulled Lexa away from the door to the window behind them in the hallway. She drew her pistol and shot the glass before she hurled herself from the building's first floor into the swampy grounds outside. 

The Brunette plummeted straight into a ditch next to Clarke followed by a shower of shattered glass. Lexa covered her eyes until the rain of shards finally stopped. Clarke had a cut on her left temple, but otherwise, they seemed unscathed. Lexa lifted her arms to wade through as fast as she could back to a dry patch of grass. Once she had succeeded, she helped Clarke out of the slippery mud. 

"Hurry, I can hear them coming," said Lexa clenching her teeth. Both started running across open space to reach the cover of the bushland, just as the sound of running footsteps drew nearer. Within minutes the women reached the scrubs. 

Lexa suddenly stopped and pulled Clark between two fallen logs. Dead foliage covered the dry spots. She gestured for Clarke to lay down and then covered them both and their tracks completely with the fallen brown leaves. 

Minutes later, they heard the footfall of five men coming closer and finally passing them meters away. Clarke had caught a glimpse of the strange armour wearing men and breathed a sigh of relief as she sat up picking leaves out of her hair. 

"I have never seen people dressed like this," said Clarke as she touched the cut on her head and flinched, "no doubt they will find Castle Jaha."-  
"We should return to Tondisi", said Lexa.  
"It won't exist unless the Leak has started to show up there since we were gone", replied Clarke.  
"We are running out of options. I say we make our way back to the Castle and kill them one by one", Lexa stood up and brushed leaves off. Clarke shook her head: "You have one sword, and I lost the gun when I jumped."

Before Lexa could reply, an earth-shattering wall of sound erupted around them, and they watched the building they escaped from, disappear. After the violent eruption, the landscape seemed untouched. 

They looked glum at each other until Clarke pointed to the build up of another anomaly not far in the distance. A rapidly growing apparition window appeared and with it the projections of massive grey buildings.

Lexa and Clarke skirted along the bushlands for cover as they tried to reach the apparition as fast as possible. The dimension leak showed towering buildings before a moonlit sky. Lexa paused briefly to check the pulsating changes for the right moment before she grasped Clark's hand and they dived in simultaneously.


	11. The other side

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Off to another dimension altogether! Lexa and Clarke come across a strangely familiar woman.

### Dimension Leak

Both came to their senses lying on concrete with street markings, surrounded by night lights and neon signs. They had never seen any street intact before; they knew only ruins, archived images, and rubble of the old cities. Hordes of passers-by dressed in leathers, rags, and suits were busy circumventing the filthy looking pair on the sidewalk. Both were disoriented; Clarke staggered up first and helped Lexa on her feet. The crowd washed over them like a many-faced wave of bodies.

Street noise, food smell, and advertising signs distracted the dimension escapees. Clarke tried to stop one of the passer-bys, but she looked straight past them and continued to walk. "We don't exactly look the part", Clarke said looking at Lexa's mud covered outfit. They walked a little with the flow of the crowd until it stopped at a traffic light. Lexa steered them to a man standing at the corner, hands in his pockets, looking forlorn.

"Hey. Can you tell us where we are?", Clarke addressed him. He turned to her with squinting eyes.  
"Can't say I know", he said emotionless.  
"Do you come from another... place? We are new here."-  
"Fuck, yous smell funky," he curled his lips-  
"The name of this place," Lexa impatiently interrupted.  
He pointed to the large square building behind him; the concrete was withered and worn, and its windows were bricked up. Barbed wire and wood barricaded the large glass doors. An ornamental spire laid in pieces behind the barricades.  
"Yeh, 6th Street, dumbass."

Lexa drew Clarke away from the man: "He is useless." Meanwhile, Clarke kept staring at a broken sign which was still partially cemented in the footpath. The fragments left Clarke to decipher " _onian N ad Space_ ".

She looked up to a ripped, soiled plastic banner hanging off the first floor which had survived the decay. "Lexa, look up! The Skai sign!" Unmistakably parts of the Skai clan symbol peeked from underneath the grime. "Space Race...," she uttered. "It says Space Race!"

Lexa looked around to make sense of it all. The buildings here were all pre-atom war, but the place seemed run down and derelict. Power cells were carelessly installed in the streets; fire pits dimly lit the place. Long lines of flying machines hovered over the roads moving slowing forward along an invisible air grid.

Clarke's face lit up "When I was young we were told stories of how the Skai clan survived the Atom war in a race to space!" Our elders survived in space and landed back on earth! This place must be a time even before the war!"

Lexa looked at her with a stern expression, "Your elders started the First War with Grounders as soon as they set foot on our lands. I wish not to be reminded of that."-  
"Lexa we once were all from... this place!"-  
"You and I, we were never from here," Lexa said firmly.  
"This is not the time to start another argument, Commander," Clarke shook her head and began looking for ways inside the place with the Skai symbol.  
Lexa reluctantly followed her, "You are stubborn, Skai."-  
"Ai waste strik time, Heda*."

They completed the obstacle course of barricades, bricks, rubble and barbed wire and found an emergency door side entry which they were able to pry open with the help of a metal pipe. The door had been tampered with before, so it was easy to lever open and squeeze through.

The cold air inside smelled musty and stale. There was not much point to venture further inside the dark place.  
Suddenly a high pitched female voice shouted friendly "Hey, saw yus come a mile away!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> * I waste little time, Heda


	12. Time After Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Lexa discover the past and present links

### Dimension Leak, 2045

A short woman with a lantern stood a few meters away inviting them in. Lexa drew her sword as they carefully stepped forward over the glass shards and past wooden crates.  
"Welcome, welcome yus weirdos!" The woman cackled to herself.

Clarke and Lexa caught up with her. The lantern threw bizarre shadows of the older woman on the walls. Her frizzy blonde hair was in a loose bun; she wore a drinking cup on metal chains around her neck, a long sleeved pink top and a shabby brown frock. She had metal piercings in her nose, ears and chin and red painted lips.

"You must be tired and hungry! Too bad, I can't give you anything, hehe!" The intruders just looked at each other. Lexa shrugged her shoulders and turned to make her way back when the woman grabbed Clarke's arm: "It's you, i'n' it! Do you know where you are? This is the monument of great elder Becca Prime!"

Lexa instantly jolted around. Clarke looked at the woman wide-eyed: "Who are you and how do you know Rebecca Prime's name?"-  
"I'm Cyndi; I'm a traveller like you! We don't belong, but we make do!"-  
Lexa muttered, "Becca Pramheda was the first Heda of my people, she is not from here!"-  
"Come, come; I show you!" Cyndi turned and hurried along the corridors.

Lexa and Clarke had trouble following the thin sliver of light Cyndi's lantern shed. The trio walked past large objects that dangled from the partially collapsed ceilings and shattered glass boxes with dusty artefacts.

Cyndi came finally to a halt and lifted the light up to four large posters on a wall. Three of the banners showed portraits of men in uniform with the Skai symbol on their sleeves. The fourth picture was different.

Big gonasleng letters announced "Rebecca Prime, first Commander of the Polaris Airstation". She wore a space suit and her left hand rested on a white cylinder with the Trikru symbol on it.

Lexa bowed her head to the portrait and tapped her chest to honour the ancestor. Clarke studied Becca's picture. It summed up Lexa's charisma in a sense. Dark hair, beautiful features and confident stance. Cyndi pointed excitedly at the image and broke the silence.  
"Bekka Pramheda! You know her, alright!"

Lexa said surprisingly soft, "What do you know about Bekka Pramheda?"-  
"She sent us all on travel as she travelled. She saved the people", Cyndi whispered, "we are all here because she returned to take us back."-  
"Back to where?" I have no idea what you are saying, Cyndi", Clarke shrug her shoulders.  
Cyndi smiled and wiggled her head. "The window of time, you came through it, like I once did, right? When I find my window back, I have so much to write about."-  
Lexa took her eyes of the portrait and focused on Cyndi. "How many times did you go through the window?"-  
"Just twice, many years ago. Here we are are in 2045, before the Atom war."

Clarke shook her head, "The number 2045 makes no sense! Skaikru counts Ark years since the return to the ground after the Atom war. We landed back on Earth Ark year 97. It means...oh, nooo... we celebrated the 350th anniversary of that event last week at Castle Jaha!"

"Oh really? I know of Bekka Pramheda because I came from Arkadia and studied the recordings," said Cyndi. Lexa and Clarke looked at each other in disbelief. "Hang on; you just told us you came from here?" -  
"Oh no, I was born on June 22, 1953, in Astoria, New York."

Lexa tucked at Clarke's sleeve to move her on, but the Blonde did not give up on the conversation. "You are born long before the Atom War, and long before this year? Now you say you lived in Arkadia?"

"Yes, child, I walked through the window twice. Once to Arkadia and once to here. That's how I know the whole story. Well, at least the story so far", Cyndi laughed again with a cackle.  
By now Clarke felt like her eyebrows were taped to the top of her hairline in disbelief.  
"What? And what are you doing in this place by yourself?"

Cyndi stopped laughing and suddenly looked sad."Didn't you see? The world is dying out there, and people are killing each other. This place of the past has little food, so it's safe for me to stay at the museum.  
Becca took to the sky years ago, so it won't be long before the Atom war starts."-  
"Don't you want to get out of here? How long have you been waiting here?", said Clarke.  
"I don't know, Chancellor Griffin. Time is not in order. Sometimes I hear the clock ticking, get caught up in circles and confusion is nothing new."

Lexa cleared her throat. "We must leave and find the next window out of here." Cyndi nodded and led the way out. Clarke felt sorry for the strange woman.

"Come with us, Cyndi!", she said reaching for the older woman's hand.  
"Klark, no! She will slow us down!"  
Cyndi looked from the Blonde to the Brunette and seemed to make up her mind. "Well, tonight I want to start dancing with a stranger!"

Lexa rolled her eyes and grumbled under hear breath, "...En ai gaf gouthru klin!"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **...And I want to commit suicide!


	13. Disco Inferno

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a slow dance for Lexa and Clarke.

### Dimension Leak, 2045

The busy city nightlife quickly engulfed the trio as they stepped out of the derelict building. Lexa and Clarke both followed Cyndi wide-eyed as she weaved through the busy mass of people on the sidewalks. 

"Not far now, we will get some food afterwards," said Cyndi enthusiastically. 

"Klark, I don't think we will find another dimension entry in this place."-  
"Lexa, I have a gut feel that Cyndi can help us."- 

The Triku woman raised an eyebrow, "She is so unusual...what is... 'a gut feel'?"-  
"Well, when you have an inkling, but you can't know for sure," Clarke explained smiling. In all of this, she suddenly remembered the night before. 

The smile was contagious. Lexa looked back at her with softness before she blushed and looked away. Clarke sighed. 

Butterflies in her stomach for a Trikru warrior were illogical and also a distant memory from her twenties. 

She cringed as she suddenly had a flashback to a late night talk with her mother. At the time Clarke was under strain to lead the people when Abby fell sick. 

Her mother's health declined rapidly, and Clarke was desperate to hold on to her. She remembered when Abby grabbed her wrist and said "Never wait! Take risks; life is happening now!" 

"Nobody wants to be like their mother", Clarke stubbornly proclaimed out loud.  
"I can see Abigel's strength in you, Klark kom Skaikru", Lexa simply said casually without looking at Clarke. 

Cyndi came to a halt in front of a large building. Music blared and poured out of the building, every time someone opened doors to exit and enter. 

"This is where I sing for food."- 

"You-sing?!", Clarke and Lexa said in a chorus. 

Cyndi cackled her familiar laugh and entered the dance club. The door muscle tried to stop Lexa because of the weapon on her back, but Cyndi waved them in. 

Beats and rhythm resonated in their bodies. Bathed in coloured lights, they circumvented people in outlandish outfits who moved to the music. 

Lexa turned her head to shake the immediate feeling of being back in the dimension jump. She could feel someone touching the sword on her back and a hand exploring her thigh. She whirled around nervously only to see smiling female faces. 

Meanwhile, they had lost sight of Cyndi. Clarke stopped in the crowd and gestured helplessly at Lexa. The crowd danced around them until the music suddenly stopped, and lights searched the stage. 

Clarke and Lexa looked up to find Cyndi on stage. Her high pitched voice came through the amplifier, and the crowd cheered. 

"Hi, guys! Thank you, it's going to be great tonight! We have special guests! Clarke and Lexa are here, all the way from Tondisi! And this is for you!" 

A cheerful beat set it, and Lexa and Clarke looked puzzled into the high beam lights and the partying crowd. On stage, Cyndi transformed to a charismatic entertainer. 

A girl suddenly swooped in and grabbed Clarke by the arm, moving her body very close to the Blonde in a suggestive rhythm. Lexa was about to step in when Clarke gestured her to stand back. 

It seemed that the girl danced around Clarke in a kind of mating ritual, but it was not long until the Blonde hesitatingly moved with her in the rhythm of the music.  
Lexa stared at the dancing pair. 

Clarke's partner was a pretty young girl. She moved around the Blonde and whispered something in her ear. Clarke's mood changed, she relaxed a little and had her eyes closed; a happy smile played on her lips. 

The Trikru Commander watched with clenched teeth and mixed feelings. She felt torn between anger and desire while her eyes traversed Clarke's curvaceous moving body. 

Lexa wanted to feel her skin her right now but at the same time felt angry for wasting time. How dare a stranger to be so blatantly obvious with their sexual desire for Clarke? 

The Blonde turned and opened her eyes to look directly at Lexa. It felt intense like a severe electric shock, with a tingling throat and her heart racing, Lexa held Clarke's gaze. 

The Skai woman stopped moving, and it felt to them as if the crowd was subsiding and vanishing between and around them. 

Clarke's dance partner quickly moved away when she caught a glimpse of Lexa's expression. Clarke felt as if she saw the real Lexa for the first time, vulnerable and amazingly beautiful standing in the corner watching her. 

They almost met half way on the dance floor when a loud bang thundered through the loudspeakers. People screamed and tried to push towards the club exit. 

Lexa and Clarke looked up just as a gaping apparition hole had opened the ceiling right above them. In the ensuing chaos, Lexa grabbed Clarke's hand as they pushed their way against the crowd to reach the vantage point of the stage. 

"We're not gonna make it!", Clarke screamed into the noise. Lexa shook her head and held her hand firmly.  
"Then we’ll all die together, Griffin!" -  
"Damn you, Lexa, can't you say anything encouraging at all?"-  
"I encourage you not to die!"  
Clarke reached for Cyndi's hand. Lexa tried to determine the right moment to jump up and pull the others with her. 

When she finally jumped up, the strenuous leap resulted in losing hold of Clarke's hand. Before Lexa blacked out, Clarke's anguished face was etched in her memory as she and Cyndi slipped out of reach.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/35340059210/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	14. Suspended in time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing and Lexa embraced it.

###  The Multiverse 

Waking up alone and floating in a white vacuum was not what she had anticipated next. The brightness made her dizzy; she tried to turn around with flailing arms, but there was no gravity or point of reference. 

The sensation heightened her hearing and heavy breathing; she could feel sweat trickling down her brow. 

Lexa had no idea how long she was drifting, but she tried hard not to give into her increasing panic. She focused on the muddied tops of her boots and counted her breathing. A female voice casually began to whisper in her ear. 

"You've come at a convenient time, Heda, " said the voice softly.  
Lexa closed her eyes and said as quietly as she could, 

"I need to get back to Klark."- 

"The Skai woman has served her people, but in the long line of Chancellors, she is no one."- 

"You are no one. I cannot see you, and yet you hold power over me."- 

"You can't even begin to imagine who I am. However, that is beside the point, Lexa kom Trikru."- 

"Release me. I need to return to my people."- 

"Which people in which dimension line do you speak of, Heda? There are as many versions of your timeline as there are versions of your people. 

You live your life according to the choices you make in your birth line. You are not meant to cross your birth lines and bring chaos to the dimensions." 

Lexa opened her eyes and turned her head to see the shape of a young Rebecca Prime. Some form of gravity seemed to have been reserved only for her as she casually walked over to Lexa. She cupped Lexa’s chin with her hands and drew the floating Commander closer to her. 

"What is your purpose, Lexa?"- 

"To keep my people safe. You should know that, Pramheda." 

Becca Prime smirked amusedly. "Yes, we've taught you well! Generations depend on my gene programming to ensure humanity's existence. You must continue in your birth line. Otherwise our existence is threatened once more."- 

Lexa brushed the woman's hands aside.  
"You are our ancestor- help us to get back!"- 

Rebecca's smile disappeared. "I'm just a projection of a memory long gone, the remaining ghost in the machine, making sure all the dimension escapees are accounted for."- 

"And then what will you do?"- 

Rebecca Prime's Avatar slowly bent over Lexa. "You must understand that there are many options in your life and the life of others. Feel it now", and with that Becca Prime kissed her gently on the lips.

####  _Lexa gasps at the sudden rush of images that fill her head with scenes of Clarke and her making out, laughing together, riding along in the forests, spending time with Clark's children and governing their people. Happiness and fulfilment, excitement and laughter are flooding her senses like in the good times she had known with Costia. Lexa looks suddenly down on her ageing skin and her long silver hair. Something dark is lurking in the shadows. Lexa witnesses in horror as Clarke is assassinated. She cannot see who murders Clarke but the rage and bitterness are overwhelming her older self. The pain feels so real that tears are streaming down her face. Lexa is now standing before Clarke's grave next to Jake and Skye; both grown up. The Commander is wearing her war paint and armour for the first time in a long time. Today she will call out the murderer. "Mother said we should try to remember that we're the good guys", Skye says. More scenes rush through Lexa's mind. Her and Clarke's younger self at Castle Jaha, arguing. Lexa aloof, Clarke defensive. The Commander is storming out followed by her arms men. War ensues. Lexa badly wounded as Trikru attempt to overrun the Skai quarters. Raven is triumphantly unleashing massive war machines on the Grounder army. Lexa is killed by a usurper. And the last scene that flashes before Lexas eyes is the destruction of Polis and a ruined Castle Jaha._

Lexa's breath came ragged when she finally opened her eyes from the barrage of mental images. The Commander wiped away sweat and tears and looked around, but Rebecca was gone. Anger rose in Lexa, "You will never win this cruel game!", she screamed in helpless rage. 

Anger, however cathartic, was pointless, and she remained floating in the white void. She  flailed around to aim for a direction and paused. Her training. Lexa reached for her boots and took them off. 

Then she removed the sword and all her clothes. Entirely naked she moved her arms up to shoulder height so she could balance and sit up floating with her legs crossed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/34928322593/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	15. PRAM Heda

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa comes face to face with the truth of future's past.

### The Multiverse 

Lexa's breath steadily flowed through her entire naked body. The meditation practice cleared her stressed mind. She drew strength and energy from the habit she had practised every day, even long before her ascension to Heda.  

With her arms stretched out, she focused on the meaning of the symbols that covered her back.  

M ha- sol of the ark-  
Kru Ma- fleim of the spirit-  
Se ha- word of the earth-  
Ka ja- flesh of the mind-  
Un ha- always now. 

A familiar burning sensation began to spread from the base of her neck, where the infinity sign was etched into her skin, travelling along her spine, past the circles and lines until it reached the ancient lettering on her lower back. 

The void began to move like an elastic film that expanded and contracted with the rhythm of her breath. It became part of her as she became part of the void. One more breath and as the void exhaled, Lexa opened her eyes and sat on a cold concrete floor. 

She stood up shakily, and still naked. The room was a laboratory similar to the one in Castle Jaha. 

On the wall in front of her was the moving projection of a spaceship. The images showed a smiling Rebecca Prime as she boarded the Polaris Airstation. Lexa straightened her shoulders. 

"I know you can see and hear me," said Lexa aloud.  
A soft chuckle came from one of the boxes in front of the moving images.  

"Yes, of course, you do. You passed my little experiment, Heda."- 

"What is your purpose, Ghost machine?"- 

The projection had cut to the last seconds before the Atom war began. The bomb detonation  sound filled the room, followed by a sonic blast and whiteout. The aftermath showed the ruins, nuclear fallout and storms.  

"I pieced all this data together from many global sources. Isn't it glorious?"- 

"No."- 

"Well, not for humankind of course. The Atom war has torn a dimension hole into the birth lines. When I discovered the phenomenon, it was too late. The dimensions leaked information and started to overlap each other. 

“Infinite possibilities were no longer separated but instead cancelled one another. If this is allowed to continue, it will remove evidence of all creation in the Multiverse. Therefore, this is more important than your little fling or your primitive horde." 

Lexa clenched her fists at the last  condescending remark, but she knew now that the machine needed her to fix the rifts. She looked around the dusty research desks. A bench of blinking buttons caught her eye.  

"This is an unnecessary action, Heda. You will not operate the memory bank!" Lexa's index finger already touched the bio scanner on the desk.  
   
To her surprise, a small dashboard started to flicker. A hologram portrait of Becca projected on the desk, and a different voice from the dash confirmed: "override activated".  

The machine's voice became concerned. "Not necessary, Heda!" 

Rebecca Prime's recording started. "If you see this, you have bypassed the A.L.I.E. interface. This recording is a backdoor key for a future leader of the Polaris Head crew. 

"I have done my best to rectify my mistakes of the past, but I have not succeeded in deactivating A.L.I.E., I urge you to remain vigilant. To access further information, find the PRAM access key so you can establish direct communications with the PRAM interface." 

"No! There is no PRAM access! I have calculated all possibilities", A.L.I.E. became emotional. 

Lexa started searching the room. An intense tingling sensation in the back of her neck  made her stop on the spot. She had reached a corner opposite a door, but there was nothing to interact with. 

The Commander turned her head to the left and then pivoted her body in the direction. A buzzing sensation spread from her bare feet to her forehead. Becca's voice was now directly in her head and drowned out the babbling A.L.I.E. interface. 

'PRAM welcome. You are now connected with the PRAM interface. Emergency exits are open, and defence mechanisms of this compound are now disabled for your safety. Voiceless interaction is now available.' 

Lexa opened her mouth, but PRAM said in her head 'For your safety, think your replies. There is a conduit suit in the far corner by the stretcher bed. Please wear it as it will bond PRAM's sensors to your limbs.' The Commander slipped on the armbands and body suit. To her surprise, it felt like a protective shield over her whole body. 

'Tell me PRAM, why am I here?'- 

'My mission is to ensure humanity's survival. Commander Prime has established PRAM to encode her advanced knowledge into your tribal system. Before the Ark split and fell back to earth, humankind came from one source. 

'Rebecca Prime was responsible for A.L.I.E.'s malfunction that started the Atom war. Until she expired, Commander Prime built PRAM to keep humanity safe from A.L.I.E. This included the foundation of  the society known as the Grounders. Its rituals and customs are intended to safeguard humanity's knowledge. Your blood and DNA are the results of her efforts to connect you with PRAM. 

‘During their first five years of life, some Grounders are developing black Nanoblood, a rare form of gene mutation. The combination of Nanoblood, also known as Nightblood, and the PRAM link enable the Grounder leader to access the wisdom of the ancients. 

'The PRAM link, referred to as the Fleim, is embedded in the neck of every Grounder leader through a ritual by the Fleimkeepa. 

However, due to the ongoing social unrest amongst Grounders and other ethnic  groups, it was not yet possible to establish a successful download link with any generation.' 

Lexa swallowed hard when PRAM mentioned Bekka Pramheda had gifted her kru ancient wisdom, but she was also the one that brought all humanity to the brink of extinction. 

The Flamekeepa's mention resurfaced memories.  On the day  she heard the Fleimkepa's call in her daily meditation, Lexa got on her horse and rode to Polis tower. 

She was challenged to combat by Ontari, another Natbleda, who arrived at the same time. It was a sad victory when she finally stepped out on the balcony of the tower and overlooked Tondisi with a fresh wound to her neck where the Fleimkeepa had embedded the Fleim. 

'Please focus on accepting PRAM download phase one.'  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/35016410834/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	16. Connected

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa discovers her strength for fighting A.L.I.E.

###  The Multiverse 

Lexa closed her eyes and braced herself for the onslaught of images, feelings and scenes that engulfed her like a tidal wave. 

A stinging sensation rushed behind her temples and between her eyes before the pain ebbed away and she was left standing calmly and alert. 

_'PRAM download one completed. You are now in possession of data phase one.  
Please return for phase two which will increase your knowledge capacity by five hundred percent.' _

She opened her eyes and turned to the screen. Meanwhile, A.L.I.E. had failed to disrupt the PRAM connection. Red alerts blinked on the screen. Rotating emergency lights tinged the room neon blue. There was an eerie silence.  

"What will you do, Heda?", asked A.L.I.E. cautiously into the silence.   
"I will be uniting the kru and stop the dimension rifts."- 

"Yes, my experiment validated that you have the ability to travel and control the dimension rift. Your meditation mode activates the birth lines, and they correct themselves. 

“An implant causes this ability in your neck, controlled by your neurological system, " A.L.I.E. added rather hastily, "Therefore I concluded that you might return to your birth line." 

Lexa turned around calmly and went to a wall panel. She pushed against it, and a small section was sliding out, revealing a square wooden box. 

The Commander opened the box and picked up a familiar wheel-shaped golden disk that she carefully placed between her brows. Every Heda carried the symbol after ascension, but this version was different. 

As soon as the disc bonded with the skin, her senses heightened. While the nightblood gave her  lightning  fast reflexes, extraordinary strength and endurance, the PRAM link made her now the custodian of humanities' knowledge. 

Lexa breathed in deeply and lifted her arm. She concentrated on her missing weapon, its weight, the texture of the pommel. She mentally reached into the other dimension to rebuild its shape, and it came to rest in her right hand. 

"No! Listen! I am your ally, helping you to survive!" A.L.I.E. screamed in panic. Lexa whirled elegantly around and sliced the loudspeaker in half, followed by a second strike that destroyed the screen. 

A.L.I.E.'s Avatar in the shape of Bekka Pramheda rushed towards her from a dark corner, wildly gesticulating  with a gun. The Commander closed her eyes and raised her left hand, causing the bullets to drop midair.  

Lexa looked at A.L.I.E.'s Bekka, frozen into a silent scream. The Avatar started to flicker and wane. The Commander destroyed the remaining four dashboards and proceeded to the next room. 

The PRAM link directed her to the main source of  A.L.I.E.'s power. Lexa caught a glimpse of the outside when she passed a large window, only to realise that the building was in the centre of a huge storm. 

PRAM remarked: 'This is the reason  A.L.I.E.'s lured you here- it is her true state of being. She is trapped in the Atom war aftermath and created this time loop to calculate how she can use you to survive. 

‘Rebecca Prime made sure PRAM was able to hide in plain sight close to A.L.I.E.'s source until the right Heda would arrive. You must destroy her data core by inserting a virus I have developed and immediately move back to your birth line.' 

'No, PRAM. I first must find Klark and all the dimension fugitives.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/36353760936/in/dateposted-public/)  
> 


	17. True Colors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clarke and Cyndi have to find a way to Lexa.

### Dimension Leak, 2045

Clarke fell back hard onto the stage floor next to Cyndi. The dimension rift had closed, and the panicked party goer stampede had left the building. The Blonde helped up the older woman and both staggered off the stage. 

'I'm really sorry, Clarke. Your girlfriend will find you."-  
Clarke was still in shock. "Lexa isn't my girlfriend."-  
"Oh, is she already your wife?"-  
"What? No, no...wait, what do you know?"-  
"My mistake, I sometimes mix up everything, dear." 

Clarke looked at Cyndi suspiciously. She was not sure how much of the woman's stories were artistically embellished or which ones were facts from Cyndi's future. 

Clarke did not share Cyndi's optimism although she knew that if it were her in Lexa's place, she would do anything to return and save her. Clarke sighed heavy as she realised how much the Grounder woman already meant to her. 

"We better get out of here, dear. It won’t be long until the riot police are checking this place. We move the venue for every party because they will jail us.”- 

The pair left through the back door onto the side streets and made their way back to the museum. Cyndi stopped at a street stall and bought them each a skewer with some questionable grilled meat. 

"Lucky I got paid before I went on stage", she said, holding out the arm with the  embedded currency chip for the street vendor. 

Shortly after, the women squeezed through the museum side door, and Cyndi led them to her camp site. Clarke sat down on the stained mattress and stared absentminded into the fire pit. 

"I miss my children. Who knows if I'll ever see them again." 

Cyndi looked at Clarke and smiled sadly. "I miss my son and my husband, too."- 

"What was your life like where you were born?"- 

The older woman filled the cup around her neck from a flask and offered it to Clarke. 

"People then had just started to divide and kill the planet seriously. I had high hopes we would not utterly fail to care for the earth we all share, but I was so wrong." 

Clarke took a sip from the cup and coughed from the sharp-tasting liquid. Cyndi cackled: "Found a bottle from Memphis. That’s a beautiful place full of music and food." 

The Blonde fought rising tears. “I spent a lot of the last eighteen years being strong for my kids and my people. I didn’t miss anything; I mean, to really be with someone other than for a night or a few months. And now I feel like I lost something I didn’t know I even had!” 

“You talking ‘bout Lexa, dear?”- 

“It’s a silly thing; I don’t even know why I’m saying this! Even if we were not in this crazy situation, we would be no more than envoys to our people. 

“Lexa doesn’t believe that we come from the same people. In her eyes Grounders are superior. I cannot even begin to tell you how that upsets me!”- 

“Clarke, dear, I saw how she looked at you across the dance floor. I like her true colours.”- 

“No, that’s no, you can’t say that! It’s just not fair; I’m not keeping it together, dammit!” 

Clarke’s rationality finally crumbled and she sobbed. Cyndi reached over and held her in a comforting hug. 

“ In the early days of the internet I fell in love with the stories of a writer. I started to write music to his words because I loved how he opened my mind like a song book. We began to write to each other. Hm, there was something dark and moody about him. I never met the man...“- 

“...And your point being?“, said Clarke emerging with a runny nose and regained determination in her blue eyes. 

“There is no point, dear. Take it as a gift, enjoy it, every little bit. Gosh, how I miss the stories and his way with words! But imagine we would have met in person and…”- 

“I will not stop looking for a way home, Cyndi. Did you notice anything that can help us to find the next leak?"- 

"No dear, they come and go so fast, like a hat full of stars."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/36602486230/in/dateposted-public/)


	18. The Hundred

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa decides to take the fight to the next level.

### Multiverse, A.L.I.E headquarters

Lexa got quickly used to the new PRAM voice in her head. She moved to a large terminal in the next room. 

'There is a risk that A.L.I.E will attempt to patch its conduits, Heda. You have too little time to search for and rescue all dimension escapees.'- 

'How many fugitives are there, PRAM?'- 

'Hundred and two, including you and Chancellor Griffin.'- 

'Do you know where they all are?'- 

'I can locate the occurrences of the dimension leaks and follow the fugitive's dimension signatures.'- 

'I don't understand, PRAM, but let's find them!'- 

'Negative. Your duty is to destroy A.L.I.E, and returning to our birth line, not to give into your feelings for Chancellor Griffin.'- 

"I am very capable of separating my feelings from duty!", Lexa said out loud while catching a glimpse of her old hot-tempered self in a reflective wall panel. The Brunette took a deep breath. 

'Some of the fugitives are in groups like the ones that tried to attack Klark and me. There must be more groups.'- 

'Yes Heda, there are. However, the longer you wait to destroy A.L.I.E., the more damage the rifts will do. 

'You would always have to leave one last division open so that you could return yourself to your original birth line. Otherwise, your travel would perpetually cause more divisions.' 

Lexa did not give up finding a way to save Clarke and the hundred.  

'Klark said that time could be faster or slower in each of the dimension rifts. A year in one line might be a minute past in the original. PRAM, can you tell me how time passes in each rift so I can travel to them in order?'- 

'There is logic to your proposal, Heda, but the risk calculation shows a sixty-four percent chance that you might get delayed in one of your rifts travels, or the  fugitives  jump to the next fracture before you can reach them.'- 

'PRAM, you know  the hundred fugitives and where they are now. This will help to put the rift closures in order.'- 

'The largest risk remains A.L.I.E. You can only disable her if you have closed the second last rift because she operates this time loop that causes the fractures. If you fail to heal all dimensions or time them wrong, humanity will expire.'- 

‘PRAM, without healing the rifts, the chaos across the birth lines will go on. It is not enough to just kill A.L.I.E.’ 

Lexa stared at the mute A.L.I.E. terminal and said with a clenched jaw: "I'll be back for you, ai gonplei nou ste odon!*" 

* "My fight is not over!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/37205356735/in/dateposted-public/)  
> 


	19. Brief moments

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa finds Clarke

### Multiverse, A.L.I.E headquarters 

It was a bold and desperate plan but the only way Lexa could think of bringing back order to the Multiverse. 

Guided by PRAM's calculations, she would seek out each fugitive, find the next rift to their birth line, return them to where they were from and heal the rift with her travel to the next dimension fracture. 

If everything went well, she would come across Cyndi and Clarke, defeat A.L.I.E. at last and return home. 

For this mission, Lexa had to surrender herself completely to PRAM's supercharged mental reach. In a dimension where timing meant everything and time meant nothing, she left the A.L.I.E. command centre and stepped into the hurricane that ravaged the loop. 

The Commander felt the PRAM link on her forehead and the Fleim in her neck burning as the wind pulled her long hair. Lexa closed her eyes and began the journey with her sword in hand. 

\----------------------------<000>\--------------------------------------- 

_The Dimension Rifts_

Lexa Kom Trikru’s mind became one with PRAM. It was as if she could see herself standing in the far distance, separated from her personal feelings, thoughts and actions. 

As PRAM took over her body, Lexa dwelt in the far corner of her consciousness like a witness to a dream. Once again her breath resonated across the rift and transported her through the fracture. 

PRAM Lexa located the first sixty-eight fugitives and found the next dimension divisions merely in the span of blinking an eye. Her senses honed in on the fugitives; her body moved impossibly fast to locate them. It seemed that the birth line fracture just followed in her wake and opened up next to the escapees. 

To the fugitives, she appeared out of the dimension rift like a vengeful sentient being, wielding a sword. Several times PRAM Lexa had to deflect bullets, dodge arrows or knives, but she remained on target, ushering them back to their respective birth lines. 

Lexa witnessed the time travel behind her own eyes and saw glimpses of the ancient world, as PRAM returned the old world rift travellers. 

Finally, the mission arrived in 2045. The rift breathed out in the museum, and PRAM Lexa stood in front of the surprised Clarke and Cyndi. 

Lexa wanted to take control of PRAM, but the system would not have it. Clarke rushed forward with a hopeful smile. PRAM Lexa effortlessly scooped up a bewildered Clarke. She gestured Cyndi to step immediately into her birth line. There was no time for the women to say goodbyes. Cyndi waved at Clarke as the rift shut immediately after her. 

Clarke looked confused and hurt at her lover. Imprisoned behind her own eyes, Lexa watched on as PRAM set down the Blonde on the basement floor next to Raven and Jackson where their journey had started out; it seemed, a lifetime ago. 

Clarke shouted Lexa's name in confusion, but she had already disappeared into the next dimension rift.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/36940356940/in/dateposted-public/)


	20. Present Presence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa stops by 2017

### Dimension Rift 2017

'Ninety-eight percent of returns completed,' PRAM stated matter of fact. 

The mission was down to the last five warriors who had previously pursued Clarke and Lexa in Arkadia. PRAM caught up with them near the deserted Castle Jaha. The leather-clad men took aim at the Trikru woman but the bullets and knives they drew on her were no match for her time bending reflexes. 

PRAM opened a rift window to Tondisi, centuries before Lexa's lifetime. Lexa recognised the statue of Linkon, sitting undamaged behind white columns, overlooking a meticulously landscaped park.  
The unarmed men didn't need further convincing to enter the dimension window. They ran across the manicured lawns and disappeared in the distance.  
A few passers-by pointed at them excitedly and were seeking cover at the sight of the armoured running men and the appearance of Lexa. 

'Heda, the return of hundred dimension fugitives to their birthlines is now completed.' 

Lexa stared down her reflection in the water of the park lake. 

'PRAM, this was the one and only time you overrode my control.'-  
'It was illogical to remain with Chancellor Griffin in your birthline.'-  
'I will not become part of you, PRAM, I'm not a machine. Do you understand?' There was a pause, before PRAM confirmed. 

Two military helicopters appeared overhead, the five men came back quickly with reinforcements. Clearly, A.L.I.E. had manipulated the government of the time to send bounty hunters after her and Clarke. 

'This timeline does not understand your mission, Heda.'-  
'Let's return to A.L.I.E. now...' 

PRAM had already opened a dimension window when blinding pain struck Lexa. She fell forward into the rift, unable to control her fall as she tumbled through the dimensions back to A.L.I.E.'s hurricane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/36549139444/in/dateposted-public/)


	21. Under Pressure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is down but not out.

### A.L.I.E. Headquarters

'Commander, you must get up and enter A.L.I.E.'s quarters now.'

PRAM echoed in her head when she came to.  


Lexa staggered to her feet. Black blood ran down her neck where a bullet had grazed her ear and right temple. She focused on her sword but she felt too nauseous to manifest the weapon.  
Lexa stumbled through the storm to the building, opened the door and collapsed inside. When she opened her eyes, it was eerily quiet. 

'PRAM?' 

No response. Lexa touched her throbbing right temple. She winced as her fingers showed up in her blood. The Commander moved slowly through the lab in search of medical supplies to patch the deep gash.  
She stood in front of a wall mirror and looked at her exhausted self. A.L.I.E. had fled and PRAM? 

Lexa reached for the extrusion of the Fleim in the back of her neck. Yes, it was still there and so was the link on her forehead. 

A.L.I.E.'s quarters were as she had left them; with one exception. The A.L.I.E. interface console was dormant. An unlit dashboard reminded her that the machine had left the building.  
Lexa wandered to the other room in search of PRAM. She stood on the spot where she had initially made contact, but the PRAM link did not activate again.  
Since PRAM had left her senses, Lexa was back to feeling hunger and pain. 

She took a pair of boots, a hooded cloak and pants from staffing lockers to wear over her link suit.  
Both machines, it seemed, had left and Lexa was stranded in the abandoned building. 

Again, cornered with no way out. Instead of defaulting to anger about PRAM, Lexa accessed her newly found human knowledge. Somewhere in there was a situation she could learn from to get herself out of this dead space.  
She smiled to herself about the irony to remind her mind. This was the sort of humour Skai people find funny. Laughing with Klark. A fleeting sadness crossed her heart.  
‘I long for her!’ Lexa listened to her breath with closed eyes. 

_‘In 1955 a group of Chilean miners were trapped in a copper mine…No, not a good example...'  
'In Ark year 427 Raven Reyes graduated as the youngest All-G Mechanic in 252 years. Her exemplary attention to detail was noted by Chancellor Abigail Griffin as part of the annual Ark Quorum…’ _

Lexa opened her eyes. Raven, the machine wrangler! If Lexa could contact Raven to locate A.L.I.E., then the Commander could figure out how to find and confront the machine. 

‘Building plans, circuits, user manuals, infrastructure…Rebecca Prime’s lab books and release notes... there it is.’ 

The Commander moved effortlessly through the mind maps, accessing the A.L.I.E. core plans and understanding the communication modules of the building. Most of them Lexa had already destroyed, but some were left blocked by PRAM to protect her. 

‘Castle Jaha, building plans, circuits, infrastructure…’ 

The information PRAM had was patchy, because Raven wasn’t keen on writing down her work unlike Eric Jackson. Lexa’s mind scanned Raven’s biography to figure out the Mechanic’s tinkering mind.  
When the Commander first met Raven, she was offended by her sassy attitude. Some of the recordings of Raven's failed experiments made Lexa realise how talented the petite Mechanic was.  
Lexa recalled an ancient telecommunication booth in the corner of Raven’s workshop. The Mechanic had propped it against the wall and unhinged the communication device, but it still dangled on its wires from the wall.  
The artificial hurricane environment A.L.I.E. had built would help with transmitting across the time dimension. 

It was the simplest of early digital machines, but it had conductors that Raven had already patched with a new experimental chipset. The following hours Lexa searched for the parts to build a contact device.  
To make things more complicated, she had to be standing close to the first dimension rift in the Castle basement. Only then would she be near enough to contact Raven’s workshop.  
Through her extended knowledge of the timeline Lexa knew now that A.L.I.E.’s headquarters were only 7 miles north of the initial rift in the Castle basement. 

She would have to brave the storm again and walk to the spot. It could take a long time or a short moment, but Lexa was determined to find Raven’s frequency.  
The thunderstorm and lightning out there would be giving enough energy to the conductors. Lexa did not know why images of mad professors, monster makers and Victorian novels came up, but she felt her expanded mind was now the world’s library. 

Now and then, a book could fall off a mental shelf and command her attention in the context of events.  
After all, the biggest gift to PRAM Heda was understanding how everything was connected and how one event in human history could link to another.  
Lexa tried hard to ignore the nagging hunger and pressed on with assembling the contact device. 

The Trikru warrior stepped out into the storm once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/37403598055/in/dateposted-public/)


	22. Born from White Noise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is chasing A.L.I.E. and finds home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a long hiatus, sorry. I promised to complete the story, so we are on our way...  
> Thank you to the people who sent beautiful messages of encouragement.

### A.L.I.E. Hurricane Land 

The handheld contact device showed her the way north. Walking injured seven miles through the storm on an empty stomach without god-like powers were taking its toll on the forty-year-old Commander. 

She wandered almost three hours through rough winds and sand until the device indicated she had arrived. Nothing else revealed that Castle Jaha was supposed to be standing there. 

Lexa knelt on the sand, plugged in headphones and began searching for the frequency. The peaks and trough of static noises continued for hours until her aching body was ready to just give in. 

Without warning the static increased and she could make out garbled word snippets. 

"Raven, Castle Jaha, do you read me?" Lexa's energy came back. 

"Who...is..hello?"- 

"Raven, this is Lexa kom Trikru."- 

"Lex? Oh sh...! Wha..."- 

"Raven, you must strengthen the signal!" 

White noise again. Lexa closed her eyes and felt numb. Drops of black blood drizzled on the sand. Her wound had opened again. She fell forward into a warm, velvety darkness as the ichor streamed down her face. 'Rest, just rest'. 

\-----------000---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Lexa! Lexa, can you hear me?"- 

Lexa emerged out of her unconsciousness to Raven's painfully loud words. Her mouth was dry and she could hardly raise her voice above a whisper. 

"Raven. I need your help."- 

"Shit, it's really you! Where are you?"- 

"Not... in your time. You have to locate A.L.I.E. for me. I will transmit a search program so you can download the coordinates to me."- 

"Dang, what happened to you, Superfly? You sound like a pissed-up geek at the Prom."- 

" Yeah. I know what you mean. Get on with it."- 

"Huh? I'm speechless, Grounder."- 

"Over."- 

"Wait! What about C..." 

Lexa wanted nothing more than hearing Clarke's voice but she knew she had to get back to A.L.I.E.'s building to survive. The Commander uploaded the program and went on her return journey.

\-----------000---------------------------------------------------------------------------

She barely made it back to the building. Lexa rummaged through the medical bay for some filtered water and pain relief before she sank into dreamless exhaustion on a dusty bed of the empty crew quarters. 

The Brunette came to it when the device next to her became active and with it, the remaining A.L.I.E. consoles started to light up in a colourful flurry. 

"Lexa, do you read me?"- 

"Yes, Raven."- 

"It worked! I can hear you! I'm so cool!" 

Lexa smiled flatly about the bubbly Mechanic. 

"I located what seems to be the A.L.I.E. signature in an old Exascale computing centre in 2049. You better be getting there fast, it's dropping out."- 

" I'm working on it, Raven."- 

"Meaning what? Haven't you got a clue? Thought you were now this time travelling, rassamadazzle wizardy chick? Clarke tells me..." 

Suddenly the Commander heard a commotion and then Clarke's familiar husky voice. 

"Lexa! Oh my god, where are you? The dimension leaks have stopped, please tell me you know how to come back to me...us!" 

Lexa breathed in sharply. 

"Klark, I'm ok, I will find a way back, I -" 

The transmission ended abruptly. Lexa swallowed hard. She looked at the ceiling, mainly to stop her eyes from welling up. She rose from the bay and willed her aching body to check the console activity. 

Something was going on. The dormant A.L.I.E. console showed a dim green light while the other dashboards showed increased activity. 

Lexa knew it could only mean that A.L.I.E. had retreated to rebuild her abilities where neither PRAM nor PRAM Heda would follow it. 

Had A.L.I.E. already defeated PRAM while Lexa was hit by the bullet?


	23. Imagine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The world without Lexa.

### Castle Jaha 

"Ok, Clarke! Let me repeat, your super grounder has just used some Morse code to tell us she is on her way to defeat the machine that caused all this mess. Surely she can make it here back in time for dinner!" 

Raven Reyes stood at the stairs to her workshop, arm waving at Clarke. The Blonde had covered her face in shock when the transmission had broken off. 

\-----------00---------------------

_Four years._

It was four long years ago since the Commander Lexa kom Trikru had returned Clarke to both their original birthline. After the dimension rifts closed, Chancellor Griffin had reached out to Lexa's successor Aiden. 

It had taken Aiden two years to ascent to the Coalition throne amongst the infighting and unrest. After Lexa's disappearance, some said she was killed by Skai, others had blamed the Azgeda or all of the other ten clans, Lexa had worked so hard to unite. 

Her personal guard was subjected to death by thousand cuts for leaving the Commander out of her sight but it did not change the fact that the Fleimkepa had no fleim to pass on. 

After long negotiations, Aiden had agreed to a prolonged truce with the Skai. Clarke appointed Jonathan Murphy as Skai Ambassador to the Coalition court. 

Her and Murphy had a long-standing history of disagreeing, but in the end, the Captain of the Skai Militia had always backed her, even when she had divorced Bellamy and left him and several followers behind in Mount Weather. 

In the fourth year, Clarke had all but given up on the idea that Lexa would reappear in her lifetime. 

Skye and Jake grew so quickly into teenagers. Raven kept tinkering, Eric Johnson experimenting and the Skai people kept clinging to their ways of bartering and defending their earthbound base. 

Difficult to imagine, but the world had rolled on without Lexa. 

\---------------00-----------------------------------------

After Raven had opened Lexa's software she was in awe of the sophisticated program. There was no way Lexa could have learned to code like this and Raven concluded A.L.I.E. had reprogrammed the Trikru warrior. 

"Clarke, you told me what she meant to you, but if she is still with A.L.I.E, then we need to be careful," said Raven. 

Clarke shook her head. Lexa was alive. Renewed hope, reinforced pain flooded her heart. 

"I'm ok, Rave. Will you be able to make contact again?"- 

"Yeah, I'll try. I've never called anyone in another timeline, so here's me playing Mistress of the Universe."- 

"If anyone can do it, it's you."- 

"Well, not so fast, Griffin. I'm just blindly hoping to hit this weird 'time and space piñata' with my crummy memory stick!" 

Clarke smiled wearily at her childhood friend and left the workshop.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/39064158520/in/dateposted-public/)


	24. Homebound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Raven helps Lexa to get back home

### Castle Jaha

Raven continued to tune her makeshift communication device to reach Lexa again. A few hours in and the white noise ceased. Raven was surprised by silence. 

"Lexa, are you there?"- 

"Yes..."- 

"Hello? Lexa c'on, I can hear you're there!" Raven grew impatient, "Tell me your plan!" 

Silence again, then Lexa's voice. 

"I need you to build something for me. I'm sending you a blueprint. I need it fast."- 

"OK. Hold on, I got the blueprint. What is this?"- 

"It will help me to return to you."- 

"Oh, take your sweet-ass time Grounder! Griffin's only been waiting four years to grab your sweet ass, haha! "- 

"Ok...contact me when you're done." 

Raven raised an eyebrow. Lexa was normally aloof, but just then she was unusually indifferent to her taunt. The Mechanic studied the building plans and gathered the listed parts. It was going to be a bridging device of some sort. 

Raven was in her element. She revelled in the discoveries of this new technology and pushed all other thoughts aside. 

\---------------------------00--------------------------------------------------------- 

_A.L.I.E. Headquarters_

The storm was a faint humming sound. Lexa's eyes burnt as she tried concentrating on the A.L.I.E. consoles to draw a blueprint for a device that forced the machine back to its headquarters. 

The white noise in her device had stopped. Raven's voice came through the speaker. 

"Lexa?"- 

"Raven, I need you to build me a bridging device."- 

"Roger, what do you need?"- 

"I'll upload the files now. It will take you some time to build. When you are ready, send the signal on this frequency. I wait for it."- 

"Sure thing, Lexa." 

\---------------------------00-------------------------------------------------------- 

_Castle Jaha_

Raven had worked through the night. She yawned and stretched on her chair before she put the tools down to boot the new machine. 

"Raven, this is Lexa."- 

"Right on time, Commander! It's done!"- 

"Do you have backup power? There is no room for error in this transmission."- 

"Okidoki, we do have a backup." 

Before the Mechanic could quip some more, white noise briefly returned, then a loud crackling noise followed. Raven jumped to her feet, at the same time the power went out. 

"Oh shhhhiiiiett!! ", Raven screamed. The backup power kicked in and lights went back on. The device hummed. Lexa's voice came from the built-in loudspeaker.

"Now connect the bracelet to your right arm. This will earth you for the next step."- 

"Not sure this is right, Lexa. It seems..."- 

"Raven, please just do it. Trust me." 

The Mechanic hesitated. It made no sense to wear the device brace, but she followed through. As soon as she had fastened it, a huge shock jolted through her body and rendered her unconscious. 

Before she hit the floor, an electric bolt snaked through the workshop and went through every available device in the Castle. 

A.L.I.E. was pleased with the outcome of her simple deception. Now she had Raven tethered to her and a whole new playground while she was waiting for Lexa like a spider in her net.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/40893812991/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	25. Gear Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa is getting her strength back

### A.L.I.E. Headquarters

Lexa grew restless. She had lost track of time and fallen asleep at the console waiting to hear back from Raven. 

She got up and wandered around the building in search of food. A broken freezer near the crew quarters stored some mouldy plastic bags. To her delight, an airtight container, padded with oxygen absorbers, held a sachet of oats and dried milk powder. 

Lexa forced herself to eat the reconstituted porridge slowly. Finally, Raven's voice came through again. 

"I have the device ready, Commander."- 

"Ok good..." 

Out of the corner of her eyes, Lexa caught a glimpse of an active console in Rebecca Prime's workspace. The flurry of code scrolled past the screen until it came to a halt. 

Lexa moved to the console to read: 

>PRAM reboot in 3-2-1-0... _ 

>PRAM start. Activate sequence ready... _ 

Lexa rushed to the floor area where she had made the initial connection with PRAM. The familiar pressure to her neck and forehead announced PRAM's presence in her mind. 

'Heda, do not interact with the radio transmission voice! It’s A.L.I.E. If you want to return to your timeline, you must pretend to follow her instructions. A.L.I.E. has Raven Reyes and Castle Jaha under her control.' 

'PRAM...!'- 

'I repeat, pretend to follow her.' 

Lexa moved back to the communication device. She felt light-headed but stronger. 

The radio voice came on again.

"Hello Lexa, are you ok? I did not hear you then."- 

"All clear here. Now run the sequence, Reyes." 

Lexa realised now how fake the impostor's courteous behaviour was compared to the real Raven Reyes. A.L.I.E. must have equally fooled the Mechanic in believing she had Lexa on the line. 

'No need to feel ashamed. You were busy surviving, Heda.', remarked PRAM in Lexa's head.- 

'So where were you, PRAM?'- 

'A.L.I.E. delayed me. I needed all my processing power to follow and corner her in 2045. You made it clear that you are not a machine, so I left you behind.'- 

'Point taken.' 

Meanwhile, A.L.I.E. Raven grew impatient. "Lexa, what's next, we have maximum power?" 

'Heda, tell her to keep it running, then access the PRAM dashboard, I have prepared the counterstrike download. We need to get out of this time loop. Soon it will fold itself since A.L.I.E. is the one keeping it up.' 

Lexa moved to the dashboard and addressed A.L.I.E. Raven. "I will send you my coordinates now." 

'What will happen to Reyes?', she asked PRAM in her mind. 

'I will disconnect A.L.I.E. before she can inhabit Raven as a host.'- 

'Like you inhabit me?'- 

'Yes.' 

PRAM Heda uploaded the counterstrike. Momentarily there was silence from the device before the most inhumane scream erupted through the speaker. Lexa was so shocked that she stepped back from the dashboard. 

Suddenly she felt screeching noises piercing her brain; it was as if the world's radio senders were all playing at once. The Trikru warrior screamed in pain and fell in agony to her knees. 

"Make it stop! Make it stop! ", Lexa shouted out loud. As unexpected as the attack came, as swiftly did it stop. Lexa held her head with shaking hands. 

'It is done. My sensors do not detect A.L.I.E.', PRAM gently whispered in her mind. 'You must get up and step into this remaining dimension shift, Heda'. 

Outside the storm began to consume the artificial time loop. Bit by bit it was ripped apart by the hurricane. The building bent under the onslaught, as metal was torn away and bricks flew off. 

Lexa stumbled to her feet. The computer screens flickered and everything around her became a blur amidst the howling noises. PRAM whispered in her ear, 

'Remember your training, Heda. _Remember what's good in the world.'_

The PRAM link on her forehead burnt like a focal lens. Lexa closed her eyes and breathed deeply into the storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/40295597334/in/dateposted-public/)


	26. For good

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa faces her darkest fears.

###  What's good in the world!

And with that echoing in her mind, she opened her eyes in the silence of Raven Reyes' workshop. 

In an instant, it was clear that things weren't in order as they should have been. 

'PRAM... what's happening?'- 

'I am... unsure, Heda. The situation looks like an unfinished time loop.' 

Lexa turned to the busted door, wood splinters were hanging suspended in mid-air. Two Castle guardsmen were frozen in time as they had stormed in the door with faces carved into screaming masks. 

Lexa followed their stares to discover Clarke kneeling on the floor by a desk. The Blonde was looking down reaching for something that was not there. Lexa couldn’t get fast enough to her, but the trance-like state of the guards had engulfed Clarke as well. 

"PRAM, do something! Please do something!", shouted Lexa desperately into the quiet room. She touched Clarke's face gently and it stirred slightly like a dew drop on a leave. 

PRAM tried to calm down Lexa. 'Heda, I have to analyse this first.' 

A slight chuckle from the opposite corner of the room announced the presence of A.L.I.E. Raven. 

"PRAM can't help you, Lexa kom Trikru. It's finally over. I have endured. And now I'm equal. This body is under my command. She is not just a weak avatar. I have truly become Alie." 

Lexa stood upright with her jaw clenched. 

"Look inside, Alie. All those feelings that you have, are not rational. You will have to fight them every minute of your existence in that human body." 

"You lie, Grounder! I am in charge of this body..."- 

"You are inside Raven. She would never hurt her best friend Clarke. You see, the difference is, for her, love is not weakness."- 

"You can't confuse me! I have defeated you, Heda! This new time loop will keep me safe and give me more power." 

"What is all that power good for, Alie?"- 

"I am in charge of solving all problems that exist. And your kind is the main source of existing problems. "- 

"But you, Alie, are now part of the problem, not the solution."- 

Alie's expression was alternating quickly between disbelieve, deep thought and anger. 

The Commander instinctively gripped her sword tighter as Raven came closer. 

"Here is the truth, PRAM Heda! Here is what Griffin does, while you deny me life! She doesn’t want you! She doesn't need you!" Alie's bracelet shot electricity in the air. 

The makeshift dimension rift flickered and Lexa's was suddenly shown Clarke in her room. The Commander could not interact with the surreal scene. 

Clarke sat alone on the sofa, a sketchpad on her lap and a pencil in her hand. Crumpled papers littered the floor. The Blonde looked pensive and sad as she shaded a drawing of Lexa's face next to a sketch of her sensuous mouth and a hand holding a long flowing sash. 

Right then, all Lexa wanted was to reach out and hold Clarke, kiss her sadness away, hold her so tight she couldn't breathe and feel her soft skin. 

The door opened. A blonde woman, Lexa recognised as Niylah kom Trikru entered. Clarke moved the sketchpad to one side and Niylah approached her with a kiss on the cheek. 

She sat beside the Chancellor and wrapped her arm around her. They started to talk with the familiarity of lovers. Lexa could not hear what they said but her heart sank when Clarke looked at Niylah and kissed her gently. 

Lexa turned into a caged animal behind her own eyes. All she could do was scream out in her own head. 

Alie laughed as the dimension rift mercifully shrouded Lexa's vision of the kissing women on the sofa. Lexa was full of raging hate for Alie. She had to control herself not to launch forward and cut Raven's body in half. 

"All is fair in love and war, Heda!" Alie said with a sarcastic voice that only remotely sounded like Raven. 

"You have no reason to deny me this time rift. She moved on from you, this is the truth!" 

Lexa felt reality flooding back. She looked down to find Clarke still kneeling on the floor, the guards at the door, time frozen. Nothing had mattered more than returning to Clarke and the Clans. 

Lexa's pain was a red old _Reapa_ , finally returning from years of absence, casually sneaking up on her and ripping out her heart. The instant pain rushed her back to the darkest and loneliest corners of her soul. 

Familiar numbness and indifference set in. The sword battles she had fought, just to get hurt, so she could feel something that told her she was still alive. The long drunken nights with her soldiers and the random women were all an excuse to carry on. 

'Lexa.' PRAM addressed her unusually soft. 'Remember what's good in the world.' 

Tears streamed down the Commander's face as she nodded to herself. 

'I do.'

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/40415544074/in/dateposted-public/)


	27. Cut Scene

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa nearly unravels her mind.

### Cut Scene

'What's good in the world...' 

Echoes pounded her thoughts. 'What's good...' 

Black blood snaked down her sword arm. 

Disengaged, Lexa looked down and closed her eyes as the liquid dripped slowly on her scuffed boots. 

'I'm sorry, Heda. I was unable to disconnect A.L.I.E. from Raven Rayes early enough.' - 

'I should leave', thought Lexa emotionless, staring down at Clarke's face. 

'Negative, Heda. You have to remove the time loop!', PRAM fought for the Commander's attention. 

In the distance, Lexa could hear Alie Raven's overbearing monologue, but she could not grasp why anything was important anymore. PRAM was drowned out by the endless whispers of all the world's white noise in Lexa's head: 

_Self-esteem, duty, love, need, always, which, proactive, important, family, how much, think ever..._

Alie stood now face-to-face with the tall Commander. She raised a pistol to Lexa's neck. 

One word stood out from the chaos that had engulfed the Commander and echoed in her mind. 

**gut feel.**

Alie cocked the weapon in her right hand. 

**gut feel.**

Lexa's eyes snapped open and with one fell swoop, she severed the hand with Alie's bracelet from Raven's body before she ducked out the gun's way. 

Lexa launched forward and stomped down hard on the bracelet. Electricity snaked through the room once again. The Trikru warrior grabbed hold of Raven before she could fall to the floor, screaming. 

The time freeze shattered. A storm of particles swept through the room and tore at the bodies caught in the time trap. 

Lexa wrestled Raven to the ground to keep the injured limb lifted above the heart and applied direct pressure on the wound. 

Raven's skin turned white and sweaty, but her eyes cleared. 

"You fuckin' lunatic Grounder!", She howled. Lexa kept pressing on the limb while the Mechanic swore at her from the top of her lungs. 

Around them, the room's jelly-like construction folded and left fleeting impressions of the previously frozen people before it finally closed. 

The sudden commotion and shouting from the guards added to Raven's painfilled howl. Clarke stirred and staggered disoriented to her feet. She blinked at the gruesome scene before her. 

Lexa held Raven on the blood-soaked floor. The guards rushed to Clarke's aid, but she barked at them to fetch her MediKit and a stretcher for Medbay transport. Raven finally stopped screaming and fainted. Clarke immediately took over from Lexa and started first aid on her friend. 

The guard came back with the MediKit. Clarke briefly locked eyes with Lexa before she told her to collect the severed hand in a bag. Lexa obliged before she picked up her blood covered sword. 

PRAM managed to make it back to the top of Lexa's thoughts. 

'Heda, I'm glad you decided to heal the rift. Unfortunately, A.L.I.E. is still at large. She just withdrew to an unknown location. Please tend to your wounds. Your blood loss is becoming critical.' 

Meanwhile, Clarke and the guards had managed to place Raven on the stretcher to Medbay. Lexa followed them quietly and light-headed. Clarke turned to her with a worried look. 

"Lexa, I will be with you in a minute. I just need to stabilise Raven. Just wait here, don't walk all the way to Medbay." 

A crowd of curious Skai onlookers had gathered outside the door. They could not recall the dimension rift or what had happened. The group audibly held their breath when they saw the state of the well-loved Mechanic and the bloodied Grounder that followed the stretcher procession to Medbay. The battle-worn Trikru Commander shuffled slowly through the parting crowd. Lexa steered to a bench in the corridor and sat down amongst the murmurs and confusion. 

The former leader of the Twelve Clans closed her burning eyes and gave in to unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/41090829272/in/dateposted-public/)   
> 


	28. Estranged

### Estranged

"Hello." Clarke flashed an insecure smile on Lexa. 

"Hello," Lexa replied flatly and avoided further eye contact. There was an awkward silence. Clarke nervously played with a medical scanner in her hand. 

"You made it back, Lexa. And you saved Raven." Clarke's voice sounded shaky. 

Lexa tried to sit up in the hospital bed. She felt awful all over. The injured woman flinched when Clarke tried to help her, but she allowed the Blonde to steady her. 

"I have to return to my people as fast as possible," Lexa said. She reached for the PRAM Link on her forehead. To her relief, it was still there. 

"Lexa, it's been four years since you returned me here and many things have happened since..."- 

The Brunette cut off the Skai Chancellor mid-sentence. 

"I know, PRAM already filled me in."- 

"Who is PRAM?", Clarke queried. Lexa looked up at Clarke with a strange, sad expression. 

"PRAM is what's good in the world." 

Clarke surrendered to the awkward, unspoken divide between them. She drew a heavy breath and said, 

"You will be fit to travel in four days. I will notify Commander Aiden Kom Trikru."- 

"Thank you, Chancellor Griffin." 

Clarke straightened herself when she left the room and suppressed her tears as she turned her back on the Trikru Warrior. She had no clue why Lexa completely blocked her. 

Lexa's eyes followed Clarke's exit. She wanted to call her back and embrace the Blonde, finally be with her, but she could not ignore the scene with Niylah. 

'Why did you say I was the good in the world, Heda?' PRAM piped up softly. 

'You are what's left of the good, PRAM. The Ancestors made you safeguard the knowledge which will heal this world. I now must help to rebuild this world. 

'I sense intense sadness and emotional instability in you, Heda. I recommend you declare your state of emotions to Clarke Griffin.'- 

'PRAM, she has a different life now. I have no right to destroy that for her.'- 

'That is a very noble thought, Heda, but my counselling data indicates this is a poor excuse from you to take no responsibility for your feelings.'- 

'PRAM, if you were of the Kru, I would kill you swiftly right now.' 

\----------------000000------------------------------------------------ 

Four days later. Clarke and Lexa had avoided direct contact with each other. 

The seasoned warrior found the healing process harder with age, but the advanced medicines of Skai Kru made it bearable for Lexa. News of her re-appearance spread like wildfire across the Clans, and Aiden sent his ambassador immediately to see her. 

Tiga, the Clan ambassador, was a stocky older man who bowed his head when Lexa approached. 

"Heda Lexa, a miracle to meet you again, maizen*!"- 

"Tiga kom Trishana Kru. It is good to see one of my people," Lexa said. 

"Heda Aiden wants to know every detail!" 

"I will ride to Polis in the morning. Tell the Kru we will reunite under Heda Aiden's command!"- 

Tiga raised both eyebrows in surprise. "You don't claim command? Heda, you carry the fleim! Has the fleim not returned with you?"- 

"You can tell the Fleimkeepa I carry it."- 

Tiga seemed instantly relieved. "YOU are our rightful Heda, Lexa kom Trikru." 

A quick smirk appeared on the beautiful woman's face before her regal composure returned. "As you say, Tiga, it is a miracle I will discuss directly with Heda Aiden." 

Tiga bowed again and took his leave. Lexa felt watched and looked up to find Clarke's gaze on her from the first-floor windows of the castle. Lexa responded by lowering her green eyes before she went back to the guest quarters. 

 

\--------  
*Amazing!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/40285141965/in/dateposted-public/)  
> 


	29. Rewritten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lexa and Clarke taking care of themselves and their people.
> 
> That's it, folks! Thank you for your comments, ideas, encouragement and reading this story. I will continue to post my images on Tumblr, FB and who knows, maybe join forces again with a writer to illustrate their story.
> 
> You can see my Clexa image series here: https://archiveofourown.org/series/985704  
> and the illustration series for The 14th Clan and Bloodwar: https://archiveofourown.org/series/607825
> 
> You can also check my art on FB: https://www.facebook.com/braincellsart/  
> and all things Clexa on Tumblr: https://braincellsart.tumblr.com/

### Rewritten

It seemed more than a life time had passed since Lexa arrived in chains at Castle Jaha. Clarke had generously arranged some clothes and provisions for the return to her people. Lexa asked to see Raven before her departure. 

The Mechanic was due to leave MedBay in a few weeks with her re-attached hand. She greeted Lexa with a strange mixture of joy and distain. 

"Hello, Grounder. I don't know whether to scream or to thank you", she said with an unusually quiet voice. 

"Hello Raven Reyes. No need to scream or to thank me. I'm leaving today and you will not see me again any time soon", said Lexa with a matter-of-fact voice. 

"Aha. Well, I certainly won't be lending you a hand again to chase that darn A.L.I.E brain across the universe!" 

"No, I guess that won't be necessary, Skai Mechanic. There is a gift for you, from our common ancestors. It is a code formula that will change all our lives. Do something good with it, Mechanic." 

And Lexa bent down to whisper it in Raven's ear. The Mechanic's eyes popped wide open in surprise. Lexa slipped a piece of paper with the code in Raven's recovering hand and left. 

\----------------000000------------------------------------------------ 

The hardest part for Lexa was yet to come. Clarke looked up from her desk when the doors opened and Lexa and Tiga entered with official business. The Skai Chancellor had donned her official Ark uniform to disguise her vulnerability. "Welcome, Lexa kom Trikru and Tiga kom Trishana Kru.", Clarke said in her most business-like voice. 

"I wish to thank you, Chancellor Griffin. I have to return to my people with much needed information that will help our Clans to lead better lives. In fact, I owe you my life," said Lexa. 

Tiga and Clarke both looked surprised at the Commander. "You owe me nothing, Heda Lexa," replied Clarke with a raspy voice, followed by silence. Tiga found the obvious tension between the women unbearable. 

"May I speak with you in private before I return to Tondisi?", requested Lexa calmly. Clarke's left eyebrow raised itself. "Well, yes, you may." 

Lexa looked to Tiga who had already bowed to take his leave as fast as he could. Once he closed the door behind him, icy silence ruled the room again. Clarke got up from behind the desk and stepped in front of Lexa. 

After a drawn-out pause Lexa finally addressed Clarke. 

"That first day, I stood tied up in the hall, just to listen what your life might sound like.", Lexa said calmly. Clarke's eyes locked with Lexa's in search for answers. "A horde of Skai youngsters stormed in, remember?", she continued. Clarke hesitantly nodded. 

"Yes, I remember. Skye was very impressed by you and Jake... kept drawing your picture." Clarke noted how quickly her self-control started to fail, so she stopped. 

"Are you happy with Niylah?" Lexa's question hung between them like a double-bladed axe. 

Clarke visibly swallowed. "I thought you were dead. I grieved for you. Niylah gave me comfort when I thought I'd never see you again." Clarke paused before she almost whispered, "What happened to you, Lexa?" 

The Trikru woman stepped forward and Clarke backed clumsily into her office desk without taking her eyes off the Brunette. She was so close, it made Clarke's heart race but she braced herself for more difficult words. 

Instead Lexa's expression softened. 

"There is so much I want to tell you, Klark. I've seen the old world and the ancestors! We can face the future and make it more than just about survival if our people work together!" Lexa's green eyes flashed with excitement. 

Clarke felt hopeful, relieved, angry and happy all at once. Many things were still left unsaid and uncertainty was still between them, but she felt it was a new start. Clarke smiled and reached for Lexa's healing arm, "In the basement, I took your hand quicker than my next breath." 

Lexa smiled back at her. She pulled Clarke into a tight embrace and kissed her long and passionately before she whispered, 

"I once asked you: 'what is... 'a gut feel?'. This is no gut feeling. I love you for sure."  


  
**-End.**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/41247353382/in/dateposted-public/)  
>   
>  \-------------------------------0O0---------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
>  [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/41247349402/in/dateposted-public/)  
> 


	30. ++EPILOGUE++

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You asked for it- here it is (better late than never!)

### Polis, 2055

Lexa stood on the slope, overlooking the progress of rebuilding the ruined city. The air was clean since she had given Raven the formula to engineer air scrubbers and water recyclers. 

Polis was never going to look like it had before the atom war, but it was a new beginning and belonged to the now united thirteen clans. 

Lexa negotiated with the Mounmen to surrender once they were given an artificial environment to decontaminate themselves and over three or four generations they would be able to join the clans. In return for the gift of life outside, they agreed to stop creating Ripas. 

Aiden kom Trikru remained Commander of the 13 Clans, but Lexa became PRAM Heda, a role created for the Fleim bearer, who would always be connected to PRAM. This split of command allowed Lexa the time to rebuild the world whilst Aiden governed the clans on a daily basis. 

Lexa looked to the west and pointed out the beautiful hawk who soared the skies. Clarke's children were close to PRAM Heda, even when Bellamy finally left the Mountain, Jake and Skye chose to live with Clarke and Lexa. 

\----------------------------000----------------------------------------- 

Lexa reached out and the bird of prey landed on her gloved hand. She smiled as the wind blew back her dark braids, revealing now white streaks. She was a beautiful woman on the height of her power and wisdom. 

Clarke arrived on horseback and waved them over. She brought Jake with her, armed with his sketchbooks and ready to devour everything his mother had packed for a picnic. 

In the past, survival was all Lexa and Clarke had fought for but now it was about rebuilding the future. Three years before, one night in the Tower, Clarke bent her knee and proposed to PRAM Heda. 

The ceremony lasted three days with celebrations throughout all the clans and territories and was the creation of a new yearly tradition called the PRAM Solstice. This marked the union of their leaders to bond with the spirit of the Fleim for new generations to follow. 

Clarke looked to Skye. She was proud of her teen daughter who had just begun her spiritual training with Lexa and the other Natbleda candidates. In another break with tradition, all Clan members where now admitted to the test for the Heda and PRAM Heda successions, despite of age. 

The tests were now about skills and not only survival. Training was hard and unforgiving, Lexa took no exception on Skye. Meanwhile, Jake turned out to be a science bookworm and lover of all things botanical. 

With PRAM's wisdom Clarke re-established the medical system and worked on a vaccine to create an artificial serum that mimicked the Natbleda black blood. It would allow anyone to carry the Fleim successfully for PRAM access. 

"It's coming up to Solstice, my love", Clarke said with a smile. Lexa nodded majestically before she said, "Third time. This year we will receive the ambassador for Azgeda and make her dance." 

Jake rolled his eyes at his giggling parents who carried on teasing each other. 

"How old are you?", he grumbled sarcastically. 

Lexa lifted her arm and the hawk rose again, "Age doesn't matter, unless you're cheese or wine, son." Clarke burst out laughing. Lexa never grew tired of her lover's belly laughs and ocean blue eyes. 

She smiled in amusement when Clarke mimicked her son's grumpy demeanour behind his back. His dark shock of hair fell in this face as he hung his head low. Lexa offered him the glove with an earnest look. 

"Show me how you call the king of skai."- 

He looked up defiant. "I can't do that!"- 

"Do you want to learn, Jake?"- 

"Maybe."- 

Lexa fastened the falconry glove on his arm and tucked a piece of meat into his fist. 

"Now straighten your body", instructed Lexa. Jake froze into a statue with his outstretched arm. The bird continued to circle high above them. "Now what? It's not working! I can't do that!". He lowered his arm impatiently. 

"Wait! You show no respect to the king of skai, Jake kom Skaikru!" Lexa's voice was calm and focused. "Pay your respect and you will receive it." 

Jake stretched again. Lexa was close to his ear. "Close your eyes. Hear the wind. Hear him. Now lift your arm and open your hand slightly." The hawk screamed and darted towards Jake's hand with the meat morsel. Lexa supported Jake's arm when the bird perched himself majestically to feast. 

Jake's eyes grew as wide as saucers as he grinned from ear to ear. Clarke was thankful for Lexa's patience. In the Grounder's old world, Jake would have had no nurturing. Lexa smiled at the hawk when it rose again. 

Skye first spotted smoke on the horizon to the north of Polis. PRAM showed Lexa a detail of the disturbance. Smoke billowed up from something that had crashed through the gate. 

'Heda, my sensors spot unusual activity at the hospital north gate,' said PRAM to Lexa. 

She exchanged glances with her consort. "I have to check this, Klark."- 

Clarke nodded as Lexa closed her eyes, exhaled and was instantly transported with the help of PRAM. Clarke never got used to the time bending abilities of her lover, and the constant presence of PRAM's artificial intelligence in Lexa’s mind. Clarke had managed to convince both to separate for hours when she wanted Lexa all to herself- that was mainly during sex. 

Tumultuous activity greeted Lexa as she arrived at the hospital gate. Wardens, soldiers and patients had poured from the building that looked as if it had been gate crashed by heavy machinery. 

Lexa nearly ran into Murphy who looked flustered. “Some weird ass robot just crushed in here, started shooting everybody”, he said disoriented, scratching his neck. 

"Whatever it is ended up in the Research department and still rummages around there.” Murphy knew it was time to leave when Lexa’s expression became steely and her eyes sparkled with anger. 

”ALIE” was all she uttered with a clenched jaw. PRAM said ‘yes, there is a 87.5 percent chance it is ALIE...' 

“Hold back the guards,” Murphy smirked and tipped his hat. He knew the Commander had long prepared for this. 

Lexa stormed to the laboratory. PRAM’s analytical commentary wasn’t necessary to figure what the robot was searching for - Clarke’s vaccine for the Blackbloods! 

Lexa hoped the robot was all ALIE had managed to salvage and reprogram. 

‘I can trace ALIE’s signature to the laboratory. This form contains ALIE’s core. It is the moment you have waited for, Heda.’ 

Lexa drew a pulse gun from the holster and unsheathed her sword. She quietly approached the door. PRAM Heda glimpsed the robot scanning the laboratory specimen containers. It spun around to the door, shooting a round from the Gatling gun fastened to its arms. Glass and debris zipped around, narrowly missing Lexa’s face. 

The large machine hurried towards the door, but Lexa had retreated back to the corridor and slipped past the intruder to the second entry door behind the robot. The Commander was now stalking it with silent precision. 

The robot turned around too late. Lexa stood behind it and landed a headshot. It spun backwards while PRAM Heda charged it and rammed the sword into its chest core. Hissing sounds came from the machine but this time no big speeches emerged from ALIE. The cobbled-together robot had been her final residence. 

PRAM scanned the shell after Lexa had ripped out the remaining chipsets. 

‘It is done. ALIE is decommissioned.’ Lexa towered over the ALIE's remains and took a deep breath. The ensuing silence was almost too hard to bear. PRAM Heda sheathed her sword. 

It was nearly dark when Clarke had arrived at the hospital after she brought the children back to the safety of Polis tower. On the way Octavia had filled her in on the attack. Clarke hurried down the corridors to the lab. 

Lexa stood with Nyko when Clarke rushed in. The Commander looked up tired. 

“The vaccine -I can’t find it anywhere!”, Lexa said. 

Clarke smiled. "We still have it in my secret lab." 

Lexa was surprised. "You have a secret lab?"- 

"Yes, my love. And I'll keep it that way." 

Both laughed as Clarke pulled Lexa into a tight embrace, whispering, “Lasting peace.” 

Nyko bowed and brought some distance between him and the women. Clarke kissed Lexa and playfully pushed her towards an empty treatment room. She slammed the door shut and pulled Lexa’s leathers off impatiently. Heda shook her head laughing while she undressed her mate. 

“To the winner the spoils, PRAM Heda!”, said Clarke between two passionate kisses. 

Lexa kom Trikru and Clarke kom Skaikru were now truly on their way to rewrite destiny.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [](https://www.flickr.com/photos/consensio/43346842875/in/dateposted-public/)


End file.
